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CfiEXRIGHT DEPOSm 



HOW TO TEACH 
ELEMENTARY SUBJECTS 



EDITED BY 

LOUIS W. RAPEER 

DEAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTO RICO, RIO PIEDRAS, P. R. 



ILLUSTRATED 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON 



V 



.6^ 




Copyright, 1917, 1918, by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 



JUL "6 \':}iii 




4d<r 



©CJ.A499751 



PREFACE 

The art of teaching is based upon a knowledge of chil- 
dren, of society, and of how one is to be adjusted to the other. 
For a knowledge of children we have the sciences of educa- 
tional psychology and educational hygiene. For a knowl- 
edge of society we have sociology, or the social sciences in 
general, and educational sociology in particular. Direct ex- 
perience with children and in society and first-hand study of 
and participation in life are indispensable to those who would 
guide life effectively as teachers. For helping the immature 
adjust themselves happily to our complex social life, we use 
among other instruments the subjects of study. We call the 
methods of teaching each of the various subjects of the school 
special methods as distinguished from the general methods of 
teaching all subjects. 

Our chapter contributors have been chosen from among 
the leading speciaHsts in all the ''common branches," most of 
them having written considerably elsewhere on their respec- 
tive subjects. It has been the aim to give briefly such a 
statement of minimal essentials of matter and method as will 
not only be of assistance to many actual and prospective 
teachers and to parents in homes who attempt to teach their 
children, but will lead on to the monographic literature on 
each subject. With the very rapid changes being made in 
the elementary-school subjects by the modern scientific meth- 
ods of educational research and with a teaching population of 
more than a half million, one-fourth of whom are new to the 
profession each year and four-fifths of whom have not had 
normal-school or college training, such a volume, we feel, may 
be of great service. Professional progress and the wide-spread 
application of recent scientific discoveries will be facilitated. 

iii 



iv PREFACE 

To help to bring to bear apperceptively the worth-while 
past experience and the best learning attitude of our readers, 
we have initiated the feature of the ''preliminary problems," 
hoping that previous discussion and meditation will preserve 
individuality and promote the self-active use of the chapters 
as instruments and suggestions by which to solve actual 
classroom problems when they arise. The projects at the 
end of each chapter will also prove, we hope, a means to 
thorough discussion and application of principles advanced. 
Further, the general division of each chapter is indicated by 
Roman numerals and subheadings, and the main points are 
brought together as theses at the end of each chapter. The 
bibliographies offer a brief but rich list of noteworthy and 
generally available literature not obtainable by teachers until 
within the last few years. 

If the teacher will but take one or two of the best maga- 
zines of her profession, such, for a good example, as the Ele- 
mentary School Journal, published by the University of Chi- 
cago Press, she will have little difficulty in learning of the 
latest and best pubHcations for her service as they appear. 
The recent publication by the National Society for the Study 
of Education of Yearbooks (14th and i6th) dealing with the 
minimal essentials of the elementary- school subjects, and the 
splendid scientific achievements now available in the form of 
scales for measuring accurately and objectively the progress 
of pupils in school subjects, cannot be too highly commended 
for use and have been of much value in preparing this hand- 
book. 

L. W. R. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER ^ PAGE 

I. The Educative Process i 

By Louis W. Rapeer, Ph.D., Dean of the University of Porto Rico, 
Rio Piedras, P. R. Author of "School Health Administration," 
Co-author and Editor of "Educational Hygiene," Associate Editor 
of American Education, and Contributing Editor of the American 
Journal of School Hygiene. 

II. Spelling 38 

By B. R. Buckingham, Ph.D., Educational Statistician, State Board 
of Education, Madison, Wis. Author of "Spelling AbiUty: Its 
Measurement and Distribution." 

III. Handwriting 65 

By D. C. Bliss, A.M., Superintendent of Schools, Montclair, N. J., and 
Instructor in Summer School, Dartmouth College. 

IV. Composition ..'.... 91 

By James F. Hosic, Ph.M., Head of the Department of English, 
Chicago Normal College, Chicago, 111. Editor of The English Jour- 
nal, Author of "Elementary Course in English," and Co-author of 
"A Child's First Composition Book," "A Composition Grammar," 
and "Practical High-School English." 

V. Grammar 112 

By Isabel McKinney, A.M., Instructor in English, Eastern State 
Normal School, Charlestown, 111., and Instructor in Summer Ses- 
sion, Teachers College, Columbia University. Co-author of "A 
First Book of Composition." 

VI. Reading in the Lower Grades 143 

By Frances Jenkins, B.S., Assistant Professor of Elementary Edu- 
cation, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. Author of 
"Reading in the Primary Grades" and "How to Teach Reading" 
(A Manual for Teachers Using the Riverside Readers). Assistant 
Editor of the "Riverside Readers" and Contributing Editor of 
School and Home Education. 



Vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VII. Reading in the Upper Grades i6i 

By Lotus D. Coffman, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Education, Uni- 
versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. Author of the "Social 
Composition of the Teaching Population," Co-author of Reading in 
the Elementary School" and of "The Supervision of Arithmetic." 

VIII. Arithmetic 187 

By David Eugene Smith, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Mathematics, 
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, Author 
of many text-books and works on the teaching and history of 
mathematics, and Orpha E. Worden, Supervisor of Arithmetic, 
Emma Willard School, Troy, N. Y. 

IX. Arithmetic in the Upper Grades 210 

By David Eugene Smith, Ph.D., LL.D. 

X. Geography 233 

By Wm. T. Skillings, M.S., Instructor in Geography, State Normal 
School, San Diego, Cal. Co-author of a "Teachers' Manual of 
Geography." 

XI. History 251 

By H. E. Bourne, L.H.D., Professor of History, Western Reserve 
University, Cleveland, Ohio. Author of "Teaching of History 
and Civics," Co-author of "Introductory American History" and 
"History of the United States." 

XII. Civics 272 

By J. Lynn Barnard, Ph.D., Professor of History and Govern- 
ment, School of Pedagogy, Philadelphia, Pa. Co-author of "The 
Teaching of Community Civics" and "The Social Studies in Sec- 
ondary Education" (Bulletins of the U. S. Bureau of Education). 

XIII. Measuring Results of Teaching 293 

By Cliff W. Stone, Ph.D., Author of "Arithmetical Abilities and 
Some Factors Determining Them." Director of Teaching, Iowa 
State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa. 

Index 343 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

A boys' and girls' club exhibit in an old-style rural school. Many spelling 

words needed in letter-writing here suggested Frontispiece 

Measuring scale for ability in spelling Between 46 and 47 

An upper-grade classroom in Brookline, Mass., public schools. With 
shades pulling from the top of the window, there is always danger 
of too little light for writing and reading ..... Facing 66 

A great opportunity for oral composition work in an open-air kindergar- 
ten of Sacramento, Cal Facing 102 

English in any school of foreign children is a big problem, A school 

built of concrete in the Philippines Facing 102 

Various phases of an experiment in motivated learning to read at Teach- 
ers College, Columbia University, New York .... Facing 146 

Printing labels for toy houses, stores, and other objects of the classroom. 

Courtesy of Professor Annie E. Moore Facing 146 

Printing labels for their houses. An experiment in reading. Teachers 

College Record, September, 1916 Facing 154 

Motivated arithmetic work in Boston public schools . . . Facing 222 

Chalk and charcoal blackboard map. A good substitute for a relief map 

Facing 244 

Pasted picture of Pueblo village in Montclair, N. J., schools . Facing 256 

Voluntary workers levelling off a "sink hole" between the elementary 
and high schools of State College, Pa. Result: better civic spirit 
and a fine playground Facing 274 



Vll 



TEACHING 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

CHAPTER I 
THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 

Preliminary Problems for Independent Study* 

1. What do people usually mean by being educated or "getting an 

education"? 

2. Can a person become fairly well educated without attending 

school ? 

3. What man and woman in your community are most like your 

ideals of what boys and girls should become in adult life? 

4. What educative forces in school and out tended to make them 

admirable ? 

5. What admirable qualities and abilities do they possess? 

6. How can we judge whether a person is educated or not ? 

7. What phases of education, if any, cannot be carried on by the 

school ? 

8. How can we determine what subjects or phases of subjects are 

of most value to elementary school pupils ? 

9. What is the average length of preparation and of service of ele- 

mentary school teachers in this country, and what effect has 
this on the development of a science of education similar to 
the science of medicine? 
10. What do you consider the chief points of difference between a 
trade and a profession ?2 

^ We have tried to preserve the individuality and to stimulate the self- 
activity of our readers by providing preliminary problems for independent 
study before the respective chapters are read. If these or others are worked 
out first, the reader will find that he not only understands the chapter better 
when he reads it, but he can utilize better his own experiences in thinking out 
the solutions to his own problems. The chapters are to be read for the sug- 
gestions and data they contribute to the individual solution of practical school 
difficulties. 

'See Professor Palmer's little book on "Trades and Professions" [21]. 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



I. The Educational Situation 

How to teach successfully in the elementary schools of 
our country is an annual and persistent problem to about 
a half million teachers. Of these approximately one-fourth 
are new to the profession each year, taking the places of 
those who have ''kept school" for a shorter period on the 
average than it takes to learn to do well this delicate and 
important work. The situation is in marked contrast with 
the practice in certain foreign countries, such as France 
and Germany, where teaching is entered only after keen 
competitive preparation lasting a number of years, and the 
average term of service is near that of physicians, lawyers, 
bankers, and others — a life-work [29]. ^ Lack of prehminary 
professional preparation and of teaching experience, for a 
large percentage of our teachers, combined with rising stand- 
ards of preparation, daily efficiency, and ''keeping up" with 
rapid changes and developments in social conditions and in 
the science and practice of their profession, tend to make 
this problem of teachers more general and acute. Adding 
to their difficulties we find also (i) frequent lack of op- 
portunity before they enter the profession to study under 
permanent and highly-skilled teachers who may serve as 
examples, and (2) a wide-spread lack of skilled supervision 
and instruction after they enter, especially in rural and 
village schools. Many teach poorly because they have never 
seen good teaching done, nor learned before or during service 
the principles and skill necessary to effective teaching. 

Recent investigations by the United States Bureau of 
Education and other agencies show that on the whole the 
average professional efficiency of the entire group of persons 
who teach school each year is far below what it must be, 
and probably very much lower than that of some of the other 
professions in which long technical preparation, lasting one 

^ Bibliography at end of chapter. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 3 

to four years beyond a college course of four years, a life 
spent in the work frequently in one community, higher an- 
nual salaries, and more stimulating working conditions are 
the rule [17]. We as teachers may well consider, for ex- 
ample, the skill, the knowledge, the methods of prepara- 
tion, the cumulative and recorded experience, the standards 
of self-sacrificing devotion to community welfare, the con- 
stant study and ''keeping up to date" necessary, and the 
general ethics of the medical profession. The professional 
standards which we find being attained among the best 
physicians here and abroad, and the high standard now 
reached by the teaching profession in France and Germany 
are goals toward which teachers in America are slowly ap- 
proaching. Certainly the standards which now prevail will 
soon be rendered obsolete in the inevitable advance toward 
the higher-efficiency demands of both the public and the pro- 
fession. It is for that large proportion of prospective and ac- 
tual elementary school teachers who are attempting to live up 
to high professional ideals as public, official teachers in Am- 
erica's democratic schools that this volume has been prepared 
by specialists in the methods of teaching the various elemen- 
tary school subjects. 

The free, public, elementary schools, compulsory for all 
children from five to seven up to twelve to sixteen years 
of age, have been slowly and resolutely established at con- 
siderable sacrifice by the American people. ''The little red 
schoolhouse" now dots the land from sea to sea, and, until 
quite recently, the confidence of the great majority of our 
people in its far-reaching value and influence has been almost 
unHmited. However, the recent and increasing number of 
local and state-wide surveys and investigations of school 
systems are both symptoms and causes of a desirably more 
critical and helpful attitude on the part of the public. The 
vigorous and scientific reorganization now going on in both 
rural and city elementary schools, and a greater tendency to 
make educational experiments, such as the Gary system, 



4 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

the six-six (or six-five) plan of reorganization, rural school 
consolidation, elimination of useless subject-matter, measure- 
ment of results, and so on, bid fair to give in the next 
decade or two many decided improvements in methods of 
teaching, administration, courses of study, qualifications and 
requirements for teachers with accompanying financial and 
social recognition, and in generally improved social service 
to the supporting communities [i6]. All teachers should be 
abreast of and participate in these movements. Many of 
them will be leaders. 

Methods of teaching school are determined by the nature 
and needs of society on the one hand and by the nature 
and needs of the children on the other. The fact that the 
human race has a pronounced tendency for its members to 
live Httle longer than seven or eight decades as a maxi- 
mum makes contingent an immature proportion of the popu- 
lation quite large in extent which, in the highest civiliza- 
tions, has to be raised, by passing on the social heredity, 
through many higher levels than those which separate the 
children of primitive peoples from their parents. Analysis 
of recent national-census statistics shows that approximately 
the following proportions of the population are of these im- 
mature-age groups: 

Under 5 years 12 per cent of the total population. 

5 to 9 years, inclusive 11 . 6 " *' " " 

10 to 14 " 10.6 

15 to 19 " 9.9 " 

Under 20 years 44.1 

5 to 14 years 22.2 " " " " 

5 to 19 " 32.1 

This is "the white man's burden," cheerfully carried by a 
mature group which, after eliminating the superannuated and 
non-productive members, is of almost the same size as the 
immature group — an average of about one child or youth to 
each person of productive maturity [15, Chap. I, and 14]. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 5 

If people lived to be a thousand years old on the average 
instead of about forty as at present and the number of births 
were proportionately decreased, the problem of elementary 
and secondary education would not be one of such magnitude. 
As Spencer quotes from an old song, in his ''What Knowledge 
is of Most Worth": 

'' Could a man be secure 
That his days would endure 
As of old, for a thousand long years, 
What things might he know ! 
What deeds might he do ! 
And all without hurry or care." 

With all of our increasingly successful efforts to raise the 
average term of human Kfe, we shall probably not suffer 
much nationally from injurious and non-productive old-age 
conservatism and aversion to progress. Almost a fifth to a 
sixth of the population will continue to be of the present ele- 
mentary school ages, and society will constantly have the 
contingent problem of helping at great cost the immature 
members to become desirable mature members.^ It is in 
this sense that teachers are makers of society. 

II. The Aims of Education 

Education and the Goal of Life. — The most fundamental 
answer we can give to the problem of the function of educa- 
tion is that it, like all other social processes and institutions, 
must help people to realize or attain the goal of life. Many 
answers have been given to the questions, ''What is the aim 
or goal of life?" "What are we to attempt to help children 
and adults to attain?" and "For what are we living?" The 
answer has always been difficult to discover and to state in 
any single term or terms, largely, as Professor Dewey points 
out, because Kfe itself is the final goal: 

^ If the six-year elementary school becomes the typical one in place of the 
eight-year course, as seems now probable, the percentages will be, of course, 
slightly different. 



6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The ultimate end is simply life itself, an increase of its own vitality, 
and an enriching of its meaning. This is invaluable, and so unde- 
fined except with respect to the need which shows itself in life at a 
given time. Discipline becomes a value from the need of methodic 
power in the guidance of life; knowledge, because of the need of in- 
sight and judgment; utility, because of the need of control of the 
conditions of the environment, and so on. . . . Recognize that the 
educative process is in the last analysis identical with the process of 
life, and that life is not life save in growth, and education itself be- 
comes an invaluable or ultimate [14 — Values]. 

Happiness (both individual and social), self-realization, 
duty, achievement, adjustment, normal functioning, growth, 
and other single aims have been set up as the goals. ''Social 
efficiency" is a valuable term to use as a goal when it is 
carefully defined to include all that we have found best for 
"vitalizing and enriching" life. Christ's statement, "I came 
that ye might have life and that more abundantly," is of 
great value as an aim of education when we learn the factors 
which make for "life and that more abundantly." This 
answer to the enigma is very close also to that given by 
Spencer of "living in the widest sense," or "complete living." 
As a general ethical statement of the goal, "self-realization" 
comes near to being a satisfactory term — the rational control 
of life in such a way as to attain not only pleasure and hap- 
piness for all but other important and desirable ends held up 
by reason, as the highest phase of the self to be realized, and 
which may perchance be in conflict with happiness and plea- 
sure on the more instinctive plane. 

The constituents of the aim of education include the lower utilities 
of mere self-preservation — health, mastery of a vocation, and ability 
to get on well in society. The standard in reference to each of these 
varies. The health requirements of one age are not so exacting as 
they may be in the next, and the same is true of vocational skill or 
social adaptability. Education is bound to consult the existing stand- 
ards and to strive to better them where this seems desirable in view of 
the other aims of Ufe. The aim of the school includes [also] the higher 
utilities, the ideal values of life, knowledge, beauty, and morality. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 7 

These values are, as we have seen, grounded in instinct. Curiosity 
leads on to the ideal of the intellect ; the parental and social instincts 
lead, when rationalized, toward the ideal of duty, and there are doubt- 
less instinctive preferences of taste which are the foundation of intelli- 
gent esthetic appreciation. Since the ideal is in each case the instinct 
rationalized, we may speak of it as the ideal of the reason [i8 : 528]. 
The constituents of the educational ideal include such fundamental 
conditions of self-preservation as health, vocational efficiency, and 
conformity to the social order. These are factors of the simplest 
phase of utility. The educational aim concerns [also] the service of 
the ideals of the reason, knowledge, artistic taste, virtue. These are 
the higher utilities, because in man's scale of valuation they are held 
as of greater worth. The highest utility is the service of self-realiza- 
tion, and in the control of this the school may be assigned a voice. 
But everywhere it must keep close to practice, to relative values, to 
the gospel of achievement. It must be on the alert to the verdict of 
practice on its work. It must combine a wise conservatism with 
willingness ruthlessly to cut loose any form of culture, the service of 
which has fallen below that which its presence excludes from the cur- 
riculum. Especially should the school cultivate the spirit of critical 
valuation or of utilitarianism among its pupils, for only through this 
can they achieve the highest service both for themselves and for the 
society in which they live [18 : 533-4]. 

While self-realization is a valuable philosophical term to 
hold up as the end or goal of life it has the disadvantage of 
being misunderstood as emphasizing the selfish, while terms 
like social efhciency, achievement, social happiness, and 
social progress are usually more meaningful and exact, and 
so probably more serviceable. Any term like happiness, 
duty, culture, growth, or self-reaUzation can be so defined 
and its elements so selected as to cover the meaning of other 
similar terms. The teacher should know her social and 
ethical philosophy well enough to get value from all and to 
see the underlying unity in them. She will usually find it 
difficult to state the ultimate goal of life and education by 
any satisfactory single term, but the proximate factors or 
goals are more easily named, and these she will find of the 
greatest value for every-day guidance. Our Declaration of 
Independence speaks of '4ife, liberty, and the pursuit of 



8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

happiness," the first two contributory to the last, as being the 
object of our separation from the mother country. In some- 
what different words, the utihtarians have used well the 
same goal of ''the greatest good to the greatest number." 

In these times of great continental wars we see that na- 
tional or race perpetuation is no small part of the aim for all 
peoples and institutions. Its importance is realized when 
we learn that China has used her school system to promote 
national peace and perpetuation, and has actually succeeded 
in self -perpetuation, from the days of early Rome, which has 
long since gone down in dust, ashes, and disgrace, though at 
one time a democracy like our own. If a too intense and 
narrow nationalism has separated nations and destroyed 
peace to-day, a greater world patriotism and citizenship must 
be cultivated. Aristotle said that in a democracy the schools 
should be devoted to promoting the principal aims of a de- 
mocracy in order to insure the success of this type of life; 
and Lycurgus in practice and Plato in theory established 
public schooling systems that were dedicated and thoroughly 
organized to promote the welfare of the nation. In general, 
the principal aims and problems of a nation or people set the 
principal problems and aims of its state-supported and state- 
controlled schools. 

Need of Social Insight on Part of Teachers.— These prin- 
ciples which identify the general goal of education with the 
goal of life and of national and world progress involve the re- 
quirement that teachers know excellently well, first of all. 
our present-day complex (industrial) civilization, and the prin- 
cipal aims and problems which we here in America face. The 
principal moulders of the life of the nation must be persons 
with a thorough appreciation of the nature and meaning of 
our national life. To change the figure, the blind cannot 
well be leaders of the blind. Social science, beginning with 
acquaintance with the life of the people of the community, 
is thus of as much importance to the teacher and educator as 
a knowledge of child psychology and hygiene, indispensable 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS Q 

as the latter are for skilfully guiding the growth of children 
toward the best type of social life to-day. Community and 
general social needs and aims stand first. The hand at the 
helm must see the guiding star. 

The nation as a whole and each community are still carry- 
ing on, in an industrial and scientific era, our great experi- 
ment in democracy. No one yet foresees the outcome. Par- 
tial failure and manifold unsolved problems confront us on 
every hand. We have yet to live up to the expectations of 
our nation's founders. Poverty, crime, political injustice, 
an enormous preventable death-and-illness rate, industrial 
oppression and lack of vocational preparation, immorality, 
selfishness, greed, graft, political indifference, lack of citizen- 
ship, inability of citizens to co-operate, to take the initiative, 
or to lead in public causes, insufficient and poorly used leisure, 
indifference to the higher esthetic and intellectual activities 
which made Greece the pride of the ages — all these forms of 
serious maladjustment, which mean wide-spread failure to 
realize any reasonable goal of life, are still with us, contrary 
to the sanguine expectations of our forefathers for this glori- 
ous new country. It is significant that the United States 
Bureau of Education is at this late day asking for large ap- 
propriations to use in attacking the problem of bare illiteracy, 
greater here than in many modern foreign countries, and far 
below the necessary and minimum foundations of education 
for present-day democracy. These problems are especially the 
problems of all such government officials as teachers in public 
schools dedicated to social stability and amelioration [9, 10, 11]. 

Proximate Ends of Education. — Professor Bagley has ably 
argued for '' social efficiency " as the final goal of education. 
As he defines it, and since both happiness and self-realization 
are apt to be misunderstood and misused, thus ''leading from 
the path direct," the term has many practical advantages. 
Social efficiency, of course, is ultimately a means to the vitali- 
zation, growth, and enrichment of life; self-realization and 
rational character are reached thereby; and individual and so- 



lO TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

cial happiness, or enriched and vitalized experience, char- 
acterizes such Hving. The goal of living is superior living [13]. 

A chart may easily be made showing the factors of the 
ultimate aim of Hfe and education according to several dif- 
ferent educational philosophers. Constructed from several 
different points of view, they are all helpful. Most persons 
will, for example, readily agree with the analysis given by 
Professor Yocum below, especially since his term *' vocational 
efficiency " includes both domestic and economic efficiency. 
These are easily understood problems of both the community 
and individual, and ends for the promotion of which, as will 
appear later, the schools are especially responsible. 

A modification of Gidding's Hst of the aims, or "goods," 
of life and of education as given in his ''Elements of Soci- 
ology," and based on the hst given by Herbert Spencer, has 
been used by the writer in another place,^ namely: 

1. Self-preservation, including the attainment of such min- 
imum goods essential to happiness or complete living, as 
health, food, clothing, shelter, and general protection. 

2. Race- preservation, including all that is necessary to 
make home life better, the relations of the sexes less a cause 
of serious maladjustment, and national or racial life more 
permanent and meaningful. 

3. Association, including all that makes social organiza- 
tion, social co-operation, and social happiness through group 
activities advance to a higher plane. 

4. Emancipation from fear, including all that substitutes 
science, confidence, and trust for superstition, excessive com- 
petition, warfare, and ignorant prejudices and attitudes. 

5. Individual growth and self-realization, including all that 
promotes the most complete social development of the indi- 
vidual through rational self-activity, Hfe-education [13]. 

These factors found by analysis have proved of value in 
setting up standards for judging the worth of the content of 

^In American Education for June, 1913, article entitled " Educational So- 
ciology." Published at Albany, N. Y. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS II 

courses of study, and for holding up guiding points for methods 
of teaching. Teachers very much need such standards and 
such an analysis of the problems of life, since one of their 
great temptations is to teach subject-matter from text-books 
with too Kttle regard to the relative worth of the matter for 
achieving any of the goals of education. Superintendents, 
supervisors, and principals need them, for they have the ten- 
dency also to take subject-matter by the ''scissors-and- 
paste" method in making their courses of study, simply 
copying imitatively what other schools have done instead of 
discovering, surveying, and facing the problems which indi- 
viduals, community, and nation have to meet, and then help- 
ing them to attack these problems by such subject-matter 
and activities as will actually and most effectively solve them. 
An examination of the common and traditional high school 
curriculum will show that it quite largely omits preparation 
along many or most of the Hnes laid down as fundamental 
minimum essentials above, e. g., health, vocational efhciency, 
citizenship, avocation, and morality. The elementary school 
will find also that it has overlooked essentials for non-essen- 
tials because of a lack of such guides. Fortunately, in both 
elementary and secondary education there is to-day a general 
awakening to a sense of relative values, based on scientific 
analysis which is to take the place of our former naive tradi- 
tional imitation of '^ sanctified" subject-matter and methods.^ 
Many of the recent educational surveys and other inves- 
tigations previously mentioned have asked of entire cities 
and states how well they were contributing to human wel- 
fare along one or more of these lines. The city of MinneapoHs, 
Minnesota, for example, recently made a thorough study of 
the needs of its citizens industrially, and of how well it was 

* See, for example, the second, or later, report of the Iowa State Teachers* 
Association on "Elimination of Subject-Matter," Professor G. M. Wilson, 
Chairman, Ames, Iowa (free); and the reports on minimal essentials by the 
National Society for the Study of Education, 1915 and 1916, Public School 
Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 



12 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

contributing through the public schools to desirable kinds of 
industrial efficiency [35]. The cities of Springfield, Illinois; 
Cleveland, Ohio; Ipswich, Massachusetts, and many others, 
have made studies of their provisions for leisure and suitable 
educational recreation for young and old.^ The writer has 
made studies of how an entire state through its rural schools 
and twenty-five cities in several states were contributing 
through the pubKc schools to ameliorate disgraceful health 
conditions [24 : chap. V]. The needs for education along the 
lines of citizenship, and the part the schools can play in this 
prime factor of democracy and freedom have also been given 
considerable attention in the last few years. 

An analysis of social efficiency as the proximate aim of 
education gives us five phases or specific aims, namely, vital 
efficiency, vocational efficiency, avocational efficiency, civic 
efficiency, and moral efficiency. The chief changes which 
can be made in pupils to help them and their nation or civiliza- 
tion to achieve genuine social efficiency and universal happi- 
ness of the highest types are, according to Professor Yocum, 
also five in number. Children may, of course, be changed, 
or modified, in their development both physically and men- 
tally. The removal of adenoids and enlarged tonsils and the 
correction of physical deformities or faulty development may 
stand as examples of physical changes (not given space in the 
accompanying charts). The five mental changes or forms of 
control, according to Professor Yocum, are: (i) vocabulary, 
or knowledge that is barely retained, (2) varying interconnec- 
tion, or knowledge that has taken on many-sided associations 
varying with individuals, (3) impression, or forgotten *' knowl- 
edge " leaving its impress, including ideals, and appreciations, 
etc., (4) specific discipline ("knowledge") or habits of a spe- 
cific character usable in particular situations, and (5) general 
discipline ("knowledge") or more general habits due to trans- 
fer, such as the ability of a person to drive almost any auto- 

^ Bibliography in pamphlet form published by the Russell Sage Founda- 
tion, Division of Recreation. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 1 3 

mobile after learning to drive a few typical ones. This analy- 
sis makes each element of social efficiency manifest itself as 
impression, vocabulary, variation, habit and system, and 
transfer. ^'Transfer" will be discussed later under the head- 
ing of formal discipline. 

A more common and easily understood classification, 
possibly, is the usual one into knowledge, habits, ideals, and 
appreciations, using the last term to cover several emotional 
factors. In these four ways we can change a child's mental 
growth in the direction of the five phases of the aim of educa- 
tion. For example, mere knowledge about health is not 
sufficient for making healthy citizens. Pupils must be trained 
also in definite habits, ideals, and appreciations (including 
interests, tastes, attitudes, etc.). We use both classifica- 
tions in the accompanying charts, Doctor Yocum accepting 
the writer's list of five types of changes instead of seven. 

Breaking down the old antithesis between knowledge and power, 
Doctor Yocum insists that nothing is educational which is not retained 
as knowledge in the mind of the learner, and that does not result in 
power — that is, in some form of control over the learner's future ex- 
perience. The fundamental educational problem, therefore, becomes 
the determination of the stages or forms in which knowledge is retained, 
and the corresponding or resulting forms of control. He distinguishes 
between vocabulary and interconnection or variation control, because 
they correspond to distinct stages of retention — the bare retention 
which through a word holds an idea in mind with the least possible 
association with other ideas, and the growing many-sidedness of asso- 
ciation, which, varying with individuals, makes possible a varying inter- 
connection which he contrasts with definite and invariable habit and 
system. He fails to include appreciation and ideals as separate con- 
trols, on the ground that they are but two among many forms of im- 
pression. Forgotten knowledge, if it is educational, results in impres- 
sion control through feelings, prejudices, appreciations, realizations, 
interests, opinions, attitudes of mind, tastes, ideals, and incentives; 
partial knowledge is exercised as vocabulary control through the number 
and kind of words barely retained; many-sided and varying knowledge 
makes possible control through the varying interconnection of ideas basal 
for originality and initiative; definite and certain knowledge functions 
as habit and system control; all general knowledge may under favorable 
conditions become still further educational through transfer control. 



UI 

US 

e 
i 

1 


5 

oc 


52 

■ssl 

III 

.2-11 


Paralleling of school work 
with outside industry, gener- 
al ideas and incentives to la- 
bor. 


Esthetic tastes and social 
observances carried over 
from home to school and 
reverse. Carrying over of 
observation, analysis, etc., 
from one occupation to an- 
other. 


Carrying over of school and 
home ideals and habits to 
community life and the re- 
verse. 


SearcTi for new applications 
of Cardinal virtues and re- 
straints. Individual effort to 
discovei; new forms of social 
service. 


o 

o UJ 


Ui 

1— 
a 
ca 




Habits of concentration and 
application. Selection of situ- 
ations calling foe exhaust- 
ive detail. 


Polile conversation, Enter- 
tainment of guests. V.isits to 
libraries and art exhibits. 
Making collections and en- 
couraging individual avo- 
catiocs. 


si 

If 

111 
111 


Everyday moral and reTigious 
activities. Help to poorer 
pupils, flowers for the sick, 
and varied foxms of secvice 
to others. 


ii 

1 >: 
"1 


o 
1— 

5 


'Z q} 

is 

m 
111 


Ill 


Periods in art. Grouping of 
masters. Classification of 
master-pieces. Observation 
and reading along selected 

lines. 


i 

til 

H 00. 


Association of ethical ideas 
with every phase of experi- 
ence thru selected fiction. In- 
formation about organized 
charities and social needs 
and observances. 


11 

11 


>- 

2 


>, 

1 

1 

Ii 

HO 


4S.2 

lis 

111 

- g2 


Fine diction. Terms used in 
discussing the fine arts, and 
the vocabulary of individual 
interests and pursuits. 


Ii 
|i 

Hi 
lit 


Biblical names and moral 
terms made definitely sug- 
gestive. Philanthropic terms, 
names of organizations, etc. 


UJ 

3 

z 

lU 

1— 
1— 

g 

CE 

2 




a 

|| 

ii 
11 

•33 


Incentives to labor. Inter- 
est in occupation sympathy 
with workers. Appreciation 
of their independence. 


Many-sided tastes and inter- 
ests in amusements. Liter- 
ature, art, and interest in a 
variety of things, a sense of 
social fitness- 


if 

oa 

1 


Moral interests, ideals, sym- 
pathy, and atmosphere. In- 
terest in social betterment, 
incentives to social service. 


KNOWLEDGE 

OR FORMS OF 

RETENTION 




>- 

— Ll. 
UJ 


g >- 

^ 

1— UJ 

S 




>■ 
" 

UJ 


DC jZ 

2 CJ 
. u. 



SOCIAL EFFICIENCY 



KNOWLEDGE 



HABITS 



IDEALS 



APPRECIATIONS 



"THE 
FUNDAMENTALS" 
'TOOL SUBJECTS:' 



The three R'e, how to 
get on with others, 
etc. 



Skill in reading, wri- 
ting, speech, spelling, 
figuring, construc- 
tion, behaving, self- 
care, etc. 



Ideals of respect for 
elders, of mastering 
fundamentals^ etc. 



Interest in school 
activities and desire 
to achieve. 



I.VITAL EFFICIENCY: 
HEALTH AND 
PHYSICAL 
DEVELOPMENT 



Usable information 
concerning every day 
hygiene. Personal, 
public and vocational 
hygiene. 



Habits of being clean 
of avoiding infection, 
of exercise, of work- 
ing for public health, 
of eating right food, 
etc. 



Convictions and en 
thusiasms concerning 
personal bodily con 
dition and public 
health 



Prejudices in favor of 
hygienic conditions 
and against bad con- 
ditions. Healthful 
attitude and interest. 



2. VOCATIONAL 
EFFICIENCY: 

AGRICULTURAL, 
INDUSTRIAL. 
COMMERCIAL, 

PROFESSIONAL 

AND DOMESTIC 



Knowledge of indus- 
trial conditions, of ac- 
tual work, and a spe 
cific trade.Economics, 
manual arts, voca- 
tional guidance, etc. 



Desirable habits gain- 
ed by doing the work 

and conforming to 

demands of the work 

Home habits and 

skill gained in home 

making. 



Ideals of honest work, 
industry as social ser- 
vice, craftsmanship. 
Ideals of importance 
and place of mother. 



Appreciation of rela- 
tion of one's work to 
world's work, right 
attitude toward asso- 
ciates, etc. Interests 
in home making, ap- 
preciation of relative 
values, etc. 



3. AVOCATIONAL 

EFFICIENCY: 

RIGHT USE OF 

INDIVIDUAL AND 

SOCIAL LEISURE 



Knowledge of games, 
plays, music, art, lit- 
erature, and many 
other ways of harm- 
less wholesome en- 
joyment. 



Habits of harmless 
wholesome enjoy- 
ment, skill in hospi- 
tality, conversation, 
recreation, etc. 



Ideals of worthy use 
of leisure and obtain 
ing leisure for all. 
Greek ideal of the 
happy life. Life as 
a fine art. 



Sense of.importance 
of leisure as a part of 
each day. Appre- 
ciations and tastes in 
right use of leisure. 
Manysided interests. 



4. 

CIVIC EFFICIENCY: 

AMERICAN AND 

WORLD CITIZENSHIP 



Knowledge of elemen- 
tary social sciences, 
including community 
civics. Study of lives 
of worthy citizens. 



Training in school 
and community citi- 
zenship. Participa- 
tion in group activ- 
ities. 



Ideals of contributing 
to community wel- 
fare, of co-operation 
leadership, etCi 



Interest in commu- 
nity problems. Intol- 
erance of evil con- 
ditions in community 



5. 

MORAL EFFICIENCY; 

MORALITY AND 

RELIGION. 

INCLUDING 

SOCIAL SERVICE 



Knowledge of prac - 
tical ethics. Simple 
sociology. The world 
as a brotherhood. 



Moral habits gained 
by participation and 
study of moral con- 
duct in every day 
social activities. 



Ideals of service, 
promotion of social 
happiness, honor, 
trustworthiness, etc. 



Dynamic interest in 
personal and social 
purity and better- 
ment. 



The Educativt: Process as Individual Means and Social Ends 

Statements of the ultimate purpose of the educative process: self-realization, 
social efficiency, happiness, complete living, achievement, individual and 
social happiness, life of reason, duty, growth. Dewey's " Democracy and 
Education " emphasizes growth. 



1 6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Each form of control may be generally or specifically useful both in 
the field of general education and specialization. 

As Doctor Yocum's controls result from actual stages of retention 
rather than philosophical or logical classifications, so his five social 
aims represent a specific educational demand for organized social 
movements. Religious education associations, denominational bodies, 
Young Men's Christian Associations, Women's Christian Temperance 
Unions, and similar organizations demand religious and moral train- 
ing. Hygiene associations, medical societies, physical-education and 
school-playground organizations insist upon training for health. The 
vocational education movement is rapidly becoming dominant through 
legislation. Education for citizenship is a constitutional justification 
for a system of public and compulsory education and taxation. Prep- 
aration for morality and social service is being popularized and com- 
pelled through sociological research and propaganda. A culture that 
prepares for social intercourse and an avocation that trains for indi- 
vidual leisure are already the aims of the traditional education. 

The interrelations of this analysis are expressed by the diagram 
on page 14. 

How Much the Schools Can Attempt. — What physical and 
health development, and what knowledge, habits, ideals, atti- 
tudes, and tastes are of most value to all and to varying 
groups of children, the limits of close adaptation to com- 
munity needs, and many similar problems are now being ex- 
perimentally worked out. Fundamentally, the determinants 
of the pubHc school are as follows: 

I. The nature of American society and its aims: indus- 
trial, democratic, heterogeneous, and changing (not static). 
(Not forgetting, of course, world needs and conditions.) 

II. The nature of American children: their heredity, 
their instincts, their habitual and conscious modes of mental 
development, their physical natures and modes of growth, 
and their varying individuaHties. 

III. The nature of the American public school then be- 
comes that of the adjuster — free, compulsory, and universal, 
and supplemental to other institutions and influences. 

What the school will or can do is thus seen to be almost 
boundless in scope. Its eyes are on the perfect or perfecting 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 1 7 

citizen and the evolving state, and upon the children who are 
to make these possible. As the educative influences of other 
institutions, like the home, church, and business, change, 
so the school, as a supplemental and state institution dedi- 
cated to the common good, must change. No traditional and 
hard-and-fast preconceptions of its mission, organization, and 
subject-matter will keep up with its experimental, supple- 
mental, and growing character. The teacher is not a mere 
drill-master of sacred subject-matter, but a builder of civiliza- 
tion, a maker of citizens who will promote a progressive 
democracy. The educator is in the first ranks of statesmen, 
as Plato so long ago foresaw, not a statesman in the sense 
of leaving the schools for a governorship, presidency, or other 
public ofhce, as many to-day are doing, but as a creator of the 
national life through public education. No less a vision of 
the mission of teaching will long prove satisfactory in America. 
Happiness and Democratic Self-Activity. — Taking happi- 
ness and natural growth as at least an important element in 
our view of life, we com_e to a further principle, emphasizing 
the worth of the individual, namely, that his happiness and 
freedom must be provided for in childhood as well as in 
maturity, so far as is consistent with pubHc welfare, the hap- 
piness of the group. The greatest amount and finest kind 
of happiness, growth, individual culture, and well-being pos- 
sible within social Umitations must be provided for during, 
the entire Hfetime of the individual. Happiness for a life- 
time requires under present conditions certain necessary limi- 
tations on individual happiness, while making preparation, 
perhaps, and requires also that we teach the young how to 
find their happiness as much as possible along lines that will 
contribute most to social well-being and permanent happiness. 
We need not make school all play and a mere following of 
instincts which have originated in another more primitive 
type of life, for the reason that these need guidance and re- 
direction, and that much which is learned as a hardship be- 
comes pleasant with habituation. 



1 8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

But the ideal is, of course, to harmonize natural tendencies 
and individual and social needs in the most effective, pleasant, 
and economical way. The best preparation for living hap- 
pily and promoting general happiness in the future is to live 
happily and to help promote general happiness in the present. 
*' Education is not merely a preparation for life; it is life." 
The present satisfying Hfe of children is as desirable to the 
state as the present satisfying life of adults. The best prepa- 
ration for any future life is to live well this life. ''Life more 
abundantly all along the way" is a necessary first principle of 
schools. The goal and the process of education are one. 

III. The Program of Studies 

Teaching Texts vs. Moulding Community Life. — We are 

easily appalled by the tremendous social inheritance of knowl- 
edge, habits, and aspirations garnered up in books, customs, 
inventions, and institutions, which it would seem that all 
children of to-day must gain regardless of individual present 
happiness. Even as long ago as 1644 John Milton made out 
a course of study and exercise for the young so extensive that 
only a prodigy could learn it in a score of years. Since then 
the curve illustrating the increase of possible and valuable 
subject-matter has taken an almost vertical direction until 
to-day one would have to Uve to the age of a million to en- 
compass a great share of our present stored-up learning. 
Fortunately, it is not necessary for any one to make this 
attempt, even though Lord Bacon could in the time of Eliza- 
beth take all knowledge for his province. We must keep our 
attention focussed on the pressing needs of society and the 
attainment of health, vocational efhciency, morahty, citizen- 
ship, the right use of leisure, and on the normal growth of 
the children rather than upon all the tools which may be 
brought to bear to accompHsh our educative ends. We must 
be filled with a sense of the relative values of Hfe and of 
minimum essentials rather than be obsessed with the teach- 
ing of all details of texts and of ''covering the ground." 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 1 9 

Teachers who have looked upon the garnered wealth of 
the ages as stored up in text-books, as an end in itself, have 
constantly helped to defeat the aim of the educative process. 
As in any other constructive work in the world, we should 
use only those tools which are needed for the greatest effi- 
ciency in achieving our purposes — not every tool in the world, 
but just those of most worth, all things considered. Teachers 
and superintendents must be pickers and choosers. Just be- 
cause we possess excellent books on the abstract science of 
Enghsh grammar, for example, we have no reason for using 
them on American children. Just because "of the making 
of books there is no end," we have no reason for attempting 
the impossible task of educating by books alone. Like an 
artist who with deHcate touch selects just those materials 
which are needed in the creation of his individual art product, 
so the teacher, principal, and superintendent must select from 
the storehouse of the world those subtle materials, activities, 
and experiences which will establish in the children most 
efficiently the particular "conduct controls" promoting the 
definite ends of American life. 

Minimum Essentials of the Course of Study. — The various 
conduct controls which we may, through guiding the self- 
activity of children, help them to build up in such a manner 
as to insure with considerable probabiHty the attainment of 
the various social ends such as vital, vocational, avocational, 
moral, and civic efficiency, will be discussed in the following 
chapters. According to Bagley's classification, these controls 
are instincts, habits, knowledge, ideals, prejudices, and atti- 
tudes. Professor Yocum makes instincts merely one means 
to impression, under which he includes ideals, prejudices, 
and attitudes. He also separates knowledge, as suggested 
above, into vocabulary and interconnection, and adds trans- 
fer to habit. All the activities necessary to the estabHshment 
or modification of these various conduct controls in children 
may well be called the course of study, or the subject-matter, 
although the latter term usually implies mere book knowledge. 



20 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The great number of children who drop out of the ele- 
mentary schools with barely the elements of the tools of read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic, and the fact that a sound sense 
of relative values has not always been operative in selecting 
the subject-matter of the elementary courses of study, have 
led to investigations and experiments dealing with the elimi- 
nation of the useless or even de-educative material and with 
the selection of ''the minimum essentials." Between these 
two extremes of essential and non-essential values lies a third 
type of activity which is not important enough for drill and 
general requirement, but valuable in giving general acquain- 
tance with the world in which the students live, and in meet- 
ing individual needs. According to Professor Yocum, the 
main object of the determination of relative worth is the 
designation for each school subject and educational aim: 

First, of the details so obviously essential in some definite relation- 
ships that their permanent memorizing must be compelled by drill; 

Second, of those so low in their relative worth that they can be 
excluded altogether; or designated as not to be memorized at all, and 

Third, of those lying between these two extremes which exist in 
such variety for each degree of relative worth that it does not matter 
which are chosen, except in so far as they differ in relative likelihood 
of survival [36 and 37]. 

Professor McMurry's Standards. — Professor Frank Mc- 
Murry also suggests standards of elimination that have had 
considerable influence. He recommends the elimination of 
details of subject-matter that are not useful in the broad sense, 
that are not within the comprehension of the pupils, that are 
not interesting, and that are not capable of being related to 
other details. He says we should eliminate: 

1. Whatever cannot be shown to have a plain relation to some 
real need of life, whether it be esthetic, ethical, or utilitarian in the 
narrower sense. 

2. Whatever is not reasonably within the child's comprehension. 

3. Whatever is unlikely to appeal to his interest; unless it is posi- 
tively demanded for the first very weighty reason. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 21 

4. What^er topics and details are so isolated or irrelevant that they 
fail to be a part of any series or chain of ideas, and therefore fail to be 
necessary for the appreciation of any large point; this standard, 
however, not to apply to the three R's and spelling. 

In his volume on ''Elementary School Standards" [19] 
he gives the following suggestive bases for judging the relative 
value of subject-matter to be used in teaching: 

1. Bases for relation of subject-matter to children'' s interests. In 
harmony with the previous discussion of standards for judging the 
quality of instruction as a whole, the quality of the curriculum in par- 
ticular is to be determined partly by its tendency to influence the 
tastes, purposes, and hopes of children. Any curriculum for the ele- 
mentary school should have its content selected from among those 
experiences of mankind that have seemed most valuable. This is to 
be presupposed. But this selection can be indifferent to the tendencies, 
interests, and capacities of children in general and of certain ages in 
particular, and aim at only present storage of facts and ideas that 
may count in a dim future, i. e., adult Hfe. Or it may be made with 
constant references to the abilities, tastes, and needs of children at 
the present time. In the former case, motive on the part of children 
is overlooked; in the latter case, the extent of provision for it is ac- 
cepted as one of the standards by which the curriculu ^ is to be judged. 
We hold the latter view, 

2. Initiative evoked in teachers and children. A further basis for 
estimating the merits of the curriculum and syllabi is found in their 
attitude toward the exercise of initiative on the part of teachers and 
pupils. The syllabi in particular — being an interpretation of the 
curriculum and in addition containing suggestions on method — may 
show the subjects to be so attractive as directly to invite attack by 
children. They may suggest also so many different sequences of topics, 
and other procedures requiring choice, that they surround both teacher 
and pupil with an atmosphere of freedom and thus directly favor the 
exercise of initiative on the part of both. Or they can offer a skeleton 
so bare that it repels all who behold it; and they can, by offering no 
options and by repetition, so insist on certain suggestions of sequence 
and other procedures as to surround the teacher and finally, through 
her, the pupil with an atmosphere of restra'iit that tends to suppress 
all originality. 

3. Organization of subject-matter, lb 2 first great condition of the 
proper organization of ideas in the pupil's mind is that they be well 



22 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

organized in the curriculum itself. If they be scattered there, it is 
too great a task to expect the classroom teacher to establish order 
among them before putting them before children. One of the first 
characteristics of a good curriculum, therefore, is avoidance of iso- 
lated facts. In general, whatever items of a study cannot form a 
necessary part of some valuable whole must be omitted; and those 
that are accepted should have a recognizable place in a series of ideas, 
with cross relations or correlation with other studies. 

4. Attention to relative values. Finally, the value of both cur- 
riculum and syllabi is to be judged by the emphasis they succeed in 
placing upon the more vital and real parts of each branch of knowledge 
in comparison with that placed upon the less important and more 
formal portions. Every study contains a multitude of minor facts 
that any one is expected to know, such, for instance, as dates in his- 
tory, situations of places in geography, and pronunciation and mean- 
ing of individual words in literature. These can stand out so promi- 
nently as to seem to constitute the body of the study; or they can 
be so subordinated to what is fundamental that the latter is made to 
carry the former and constitute the bulk of the subject. To the ex- 
tent that this latter object is effected the curriculum and syllabi satisfy 
one important test of excellence. 

In a more recent statement Professor McMurry gives more 
elaborately his statement of the ''Principles Underlying the 
Making of School Curricula." ^ A summary of these prin- 
ciples which have been subscribed to by several prominent 
educators, appears in the following five points (summary and 
itahcs by the editor) : 

I. "The subject-matter for a curriculum should be selected from 
among those experiences that are related to life and are likely, owing 
to their intrinsic nature, to appeal to the pupils directly as worth 
while." Thus many phases of subjects have been eliminated because 
less closely related to the needs of life than others available, and 
others have been selected or modified to conform more closely to the 
growing interests, purposes, and motives of pupils. The school must 
develop in students worthy interests and purposes, and must also 
give ability in testing relative values from the standpoint of such 
purposes. Appreciation of such values may be expected to develop 
as children grow older and are better trained in such discrimination 
and judgment. 

ijn the Teachers College Record for September, 19 15. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 23 

2. ''The best form of organizing the work or activities of a curriculum 
is in the form of a series of problems, especially for the more intellectual 
phases which make up the bulk of curricula." Definite needs and 
wants form the best basis for the organization of the emotional and 
motor elements of each course. With these problems for each sub- 
ject there should appear in the course of study definite data; sugges- 
tions, sources, etc., should be provided the teacher. Such organiza- 
tion might be called the problem-method, but its use would not elim- 
inate entirely the use of either the topical or the old-type logical 
organization or use of subject-matter. One problem for a recitation 
or one problem with its several subproblems for several recitations 
could thus be arranged. 

3. "The relative importance of subject-matter, determining its final 
admission into the curriculum and its relative prominence there, must 
depend mainly upon its relative importance in social life, and the 
pertinency of its relations to the purposes of the school." This prin- 
ciple emphasizes the subjects most closely related to the principal 
needs of the children and people and, thus, the aims of education. 
For avocational and other aims, for example, games, social activities, 
fine arts, handicrafts, and music would be emphasized. For voca- 
tional and other aims, such problems as good roads, prevention of 
several diseases, investments, life insurance, care of the soil, knowl- 
edge of the various occupations and the opportunities and requirements 
therein would need to be emphasized. Some of the so-called fads 
would rise to the dignity of fundamental minimal essentials by the 
use of such a principle. Whole subjects and parts of subjects now 
required would be eliminated by the same principle. 

4. '' The curriculum should make important provision for easy con- 
trol over knowledge on the part of pupils." This would require much 
overlapping of problems for purposes of review, some use of logical 
organization, and correlation of studies. These cross relations should 
be mentioned in the curriculum. 

5. " Since every child differs more or less from every other in native 
endowment, past experience, and present environment, the curric- 
ulum should be so arranged as to be in the highest degree adaptable to 
each pupil. ^' We are now familiar with different subject-matter for 
city and country children, fortunately, for pupils of different ages, 
for the sexes somewhat, and slightly for different schools in the same 
town or rural region. Doctor McMurry thinks that the smallest unit 
for which subject-matter may be planned is the class. 

This is one of the few attempts so far made to express ex- 
plicitly the grounds on which teachers and supervisors may 



24 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

select and organize the experiences of children for purposes 
of education. 1 The writer is in general accord with the prin- 
ciples as stated, although he thinks that the social aims of 
education should be made more prominent, as given on a 
previous page. In the absence of more definite and objective 
standards or tests such statements of the principles involved 
in the selection of the materials the teacher is to use in help- 
ing pupils to achieve worthy ends are of much value. They 
point toward greater definiteness and scientific precision in 
teaching. They stimulate careful and painstaking examina- 
tion of the activities in which children engage in school, and 
will lead to avoidance of much of the "puttering around" 
and sentimental time-wasting which is so common in many 
classrooms and schools. 

Professor Yocum^s Standards. — Professor Yocum criti- 
cises Professor McMurry's four standards for elimination, 
and sets up some of his own. His ''more adequate test for 
total rejection or exclusion of particular relationships from 
both optional and essential content" is given in the following 
principles: 

Reject from the general course of study all relationships or phases 
of the course: 

1. Which are antagonistic to any phase of the educational aim; 

2. Which are not useful to a majority of individuals who are not 
specialists, or in a specialized phase of education, to the majority of 
those who are; 

3. Which are either being effectively taught outside the institu- 
tion for which the course is intended, or which cannot be efiEectively 
taught within it. 

Combined with principles of inclusion as well as exclu- 
sion from the school's activities, we should haVe the following 
eight principles, as I gather them from his book on ''Culture, 
Discipline, and Democracy": 

I. The aim of education is fivefold, viz., health, citizen- 
ship, vocational (including domestic) efficiency, morality and 

^ See also Thomdike's chapter on this subject in Education, pp. 1 21-134. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 25 

religion (including social service), and the right enjoyment of 
leisure. 

2. Discard everything which does not plainly and directly 
further this fivefold aim. 

3. Test all that remains of the present course of study or 
activities of the school, and also all not yet included in the 
course as to its: 

(i) Many-sided applications and usefulness in furthering 
all phases of the educational aim; 

(2) Frequency of occurrence or frequency of need for such 
training in life; 

(3) Emotional appeal, including interest and accord with 
instinctive and acquired tendencies. 

4. Reject all that is adequately taught in other institu- 
tions, e. g., the home, industry, or the church. 

5. Reject also whatever cannot adequately be taught in 
a school. 

6. Test by number three above all that is thus obtained 
and collected to ascertain the essential relationships, or knowl- 
edge, habits, ideals, and appreciations, that must be certainly 
established in every individual, the minimal essentials for 
the majority of pupils, considering well the time which they 
have for the learning process. 

7. Select the less valuable relationships (knowledge, 
habits, etc.) that may be mastered by pupils in the time at 
their disposal and organize this optional content so as to: 

(i) Meet the needs of the individual, 

(2) Permit of specialization, 

(3) Meet the needs of the particular locality, 

(4) Permit of experimentation and self-discovery along 
various lines by the pupils. 

8. Arrange these two classes of subject-matter, the min- 
imal essentials and the optional or alternative content, so 
that all will be adapted to the needs and methods of growth 
of the pupils, to the length of the school year, etc. 



26 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Formal-Discipline Theory Absent. — We do not find in 
these or other modern statements of the principles for judging 
the quality of teaching or of subject-matter the idea that a 
certain subject or phase of a subject may be justified because 
it '' disciplines the mind," ''develops the power of reason," 
''trains the memory," "develops the faculty of observation," 
"concentration," "habit of work," or any other claim of the 
kind, although Professor Yocum provides for such "general 
discipline" as is possible. In this they are different from 
past standards less consciously and carefully derived and ap- 
plied. We know that training in memorizing the spelling of 
words, regardless more or less of the necessity of their use in 
writing, does not develop to any significant extent our mem- 
ory for other types of mental content. We have pretty well 
proved that formal grammar as a separate "discipline" and 
study does not give much mental discipline or ability to reason 
well in general outside of the science of grammar. Tested by 
its relative usefulness in developing the specific conduct con- 
trols that make for any of the essential values of life, includ- 
ing the use of reasonably good English in speech and writing, 
formal grammar in the elementary school, in competition for 
the limited time of the pupils, fails to hold its traditional place. 

To a prospective speciaHst in EngHsh or the languages, 
such as a teacher of the subject or a writer, Professor Yocum's 
second standard would probably work to keep in the subject 
of grammar if it could be provided for the one or more special- 
izing without requiring those who are not specializing to take 
it. The teaching of formal grammar as a special subject 
would be also somewhat contrary to the first standard men- 
tioned in that it tends to drive pupils from school and uses up 
the time for others that must be utilized in other ways in 
order to accomplish in the time available the essential edu- 
cational aims. A subject may be intellectually interesting to 
many pupils; it may be of some value; it might be a desira- 
ble subject for all persons to know; but if the time which it 
takes up can be spent to better educational advantage, then 
it must give way to more effective tools. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 27 

High school teachers should try such standards on the 
secondary school subjects, including the non-Enghsh languages 
and the non-arithmetical mathematics/ on the recondite and 
formal-science courses and the more modern general-science 
courses, as well as on other subjects not yet well established 
in secondary school curricula such as those relating to health 
and physical development, to industrial and domestic effi- 
ciency, to citizenship and morality, and to the right use of 
leisure. The elementary teacher should apply them to all 
her topics and subjects, and to the school activities not usually 
considered a part of the course of study. They are of value 
in selecting as well as rejecting topics and activities within 
almost any general course of study. 

Application of the Various Standards of Selection and Re- 
jection of Subject-Matter. — We may now, for further illustra- 
tion, sketch briefly the application of these standards to one 
or more other phases of elementary school activity. Let us 
take spelling. Doctor L. P. Ayres of the Russell Sage Founda- 
tion has recently made a study of the words most commonly 
used by people of all ranks in their correspondence, or letters, 
about the only place they need to know how to spell. Five 
hundred forty-two words made up seven-eighths of all the 
words used in all of the two thousand letters analyzed ! Later 
he has prepared a spelling scale of a thousand words most 
commonly used and which probably make up ninety-five 
per cent of all words used by the majority of plain American 
people in their writing. (See page 67.) The words are ar- 
ranged by grades and according to difficulty as found by 
testing thousands of school children. This set of a thousand 
words, with a few modifications, will probably become the 
first minimal essentials of a course in spelling for thousands 
of school systems in this country. Now what right have we 
to place these words as required minimal essentials in the 
common schools of this country? Let us examine them in 
the light of the eight standards previously given. 

^ See articles along these lines in School and Society for January 8 and May 
15, 1916, and in The English Journal for June, 1916, by the editor. 



28 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The average spelling-book now used in schools has up- 
ward of eight to ten thousand words which pupils are re- 
quired to learn. Doctor Ayres found in his survey of the 
Springfield, IlHnois, public schools, that children were being 
required, as in most school systems, to spell many words 
which they and the most advanced citizens of their community 
never used nor needed to use in writing. Eleven prominent 
citizens were given a test in the spelling of ten words taken 
from the required spelling Hsts of the seventh grade. All 
failed to make a passing grade. ^ The average mark was 
twenty-six per cent. The words were abutilon, bergamot, 
dentzia, daguerreotype, paradigm, reconnaissance, erysipelas, 
mnemonics, trichinae, and weigeHa. If rare occasion had 
ever necessitated the writing of one of these words, these men 
had probably used a dictionary. They had no need for bur- 
dening their minds with the learning of such spelling. Yet 
the same school children who were spending much valuable 
time on such words failed to spell correctly many common 
words which they needed to know how to spell in their writing, 
such as which and receive. The dictionary habit can be de- 
veloped for the spelHng of unusual words. A large propor- 
tion of children drop out of school before completing the first 
seven or eight grades. These thousand words, although omit- 
ting some that are necessary, are more carefully and scientifi- 
cally selected from the vocabularies of children and adults as 
used in common writing, however poorly, than perhaps any 
other group yet selected. ^ With these preHminary facts we 
may proceed to the appHcation of our tentative standards. 

From the standpoint of the first two standards we should 
probably include abiHty to spell these words correctly in 
letters, and perhaps another thousand most commonly em- 
ployed by the majority of individuals, as having a plain and 
direct relation to the attainment of all or several phases of 
the educational aim. Communication and recording in writ- 
ing is an almost universal necessity to-day. The time taken 
.to learn these few hundred words with good methods is not 

* Page 87 of the " Survey." ^ See list in reference 40. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 29 

excessive, and will probably not exclude more valuable ac- 
quisitions which could be made in the time required. Most 
of them can be learned incidentally by the end of the fifth 
grade. Drill would lower the age. 

From the standpoint of its " many-sidedness of useful re- 
lationships, its frequency of recurrence of useful relationships, 
and its inherent sensational or emotional appeal," this group 
of words ranks fairly high. Writing, and consequent spelling, 
is required in numerous life situations frequently recurring, 
and the emotional appeal of the needed subject-matter can 
be strengthened by providing motivation for spelHng in con- 
nection with writing which pupils desire to do in communica- 
tion.^ For purposes of socialization, democracy and the 
times demand a maximum of communication to knit people 
together into a universal brotherhood; consequently we may 
well encourage more extensive communication by making 
written communications in letters very easy and habitual for 
all, letter- writing being a minimal essential of composition. 

This list of words also meets the demands of principles 
four and five, since the words are not being effectively taught 
outside of the schools except to certain business-college stu- 
dents, proof-readers, printers, and other specialized groups, 
and they can be taught by the schools, largely incidentally, 
in connection with composition and other work. This group of 
words may then well be required as minimal essentials in spell- 
ing for the elementary school, or the first six grades, while an 
optional list made up of other words needed in particular 
locaHties, and for specialization by various individuals may 
also be utiUzed. The group of words thus meets fairly well 
all the demands of the standards. 

IV. Examples of Selection and Rejection of 
Subject-Matter 

Professor Charters's Methods. — A great many individuals 
and a number of organizations have been at work determin- 

^ See Wilson's " Motivation of School Work," p. 190. 



30 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



ing the minimal essentials of the course of study for ele- 
mentary schools. For example, Professor Charters of the 
University of Missouri made studies to determine what errors 
connected with grammatical rules were made by children 
in the grades three to eight in the schools of a large western 
city, to determine what phases of grammar, if any, should be 
taught in the elementary schools. The following eKminations 
from the subject-matter found in the language books then 
in use were suggested, and the suggestions given on the right 
below recommended as grammatical factors that will proba- 
bly be of service in providing children with skill in written 
and oral Enghsh [8]: 





ELIMINATIONS 




SELECTIONS 


I. 


The exclamatory sentence. 


I. 


Proper as contrasted with 


2. 


The interjection. 




common nouns. 


3- 


The appositive. 


2. 


The possessives of nouns. 


4- 


Nominative of explanation. 


3. 


The formation of the plural. 


5- 


Nominative of address. 


4. 


The inflections of pronouns. 


6. 


The objective complement. 


5- 


Use of the relative pronouns. 


7. 


The objective used as sub- 


6. 


Cardinal and ordinal nu- 




stantive. 




merals. 


8. 


The adverbial objective. 


7. 


Comparison of adjectives. 


9- 


The indefinite pronoun. 


8. 


Verbs as to kind, number, 


lO. 


Classification of adverbs. 




tense, and voice. 


II. 


The noun clause. 


9- 


Adverbs as distinguished from 


12. 


Conjunctive adverbs. 




adjectives. 


13. 


The retained objective. 


10. 


Idiomatic uses of prepositions 


14. 


Infinitive, except split infini- 




and conjunctions. 




tive. 


II. 


Placing of modifiers. 


15. 


Mood, except possibly the 


12. 


Double negatives. 




subjunctive of 'Ho be." 


13. 


Syntactical redundance. 


16. 


The objective subject. 


14. 


The sentence as a unit. 



17. The participle, except the 

definition of present and 
past forms, 

18. The nominative absolute. 

19. The gerund. 



(See also his report in ref- 
erence 40 at end of chapter.) 



The suggested eliminations if made would, as in the case 
of spelling, give much time for work more closely related to 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 3 1 

the fundamental aims of the school, such as health, citizen- 
ship, industrial and domestic efficiency, etc. 

For Arithmetic. — Superintendent Thompson has worked 
out certain "minimum essentials" in arithmetic, such as the 
forty-five addition and forty-five multipHcation facts which 
children should be able to use habitually without hesitation 
in all common life situations requiring such automatic con- 
trols. He says that the number of such facts in arithmetic 
is, when analyzed out, astonishingly small. For example, 
there would be little more than: " The sum of any two figures 
when the sum is not more than twenty, the difference of any 
two figures when the larger is twenty or less, multiplication 
through the table of twelve, and the reversal of the same in 
terms of division, denominate numbers, and aHquot parts of 
one hundred." These facts he has placed on sheets and used 
for drill, and pupils make a hundred per cent achievement [30] . 

Principal Maxon of Yonkers, New York, has an ingeni- 
ous kind of drill device for isolating certain essential habit 
facts of arithmetic, and for getting remarkable results in 
rapidity and accuracy in them, entitled, " Self -Keyed Num- 
ber Cards" [23]. 

Doctor S. A. Courtis and Superintendent Studebaker have 
also very helpful practical tests for producing similar results. 

The 1915 and 1917 Year-Books of the National Society for 
the Study of Education are devoted to this important topic, 
most of the elementary school subjects being treated. Much 
of the material in these reports is of direct classroom value, 
and teachers should not wait to have it faintly filter down to 
them from superintendents. For example, an authoritative 
table of twenty of the most important dates in American 
history, worked out by Professor Bagley, for memorization 
in the seventh and eighth grades, strikes the eye in leafing 
through the 191 5 volume:^ 

^ See also pamphlet by Professors Bagley and Rugg on "The Content of 
American History as Taught in the Seventh and Eighth Grades," Bulletin 
No. 16 of the School of Education, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. 



32 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



Rank 


Date 


Value 


Rank 


Date 


Value 


I 


1776* 

1492 

1607 

1789 

1620 


1,323 

1,261 

1,363 

1,100 

961 

955 

901 

821 

808 

793 


II 


1812 

1765 

1783 

1865 (Apr, 14) 

1850 

1854 

1775 

1781 

1823 

i846t 


752 
629 
618 
389 

591 
590 
585 
584 
521 
470 


2 


12 










5 




6 


1803 

1861 (Apr.14) 

1787 

1863 (Jan.i) 

1820 


16 


7 


T7 


8 


18 
19 


9 


lO 


20 





Most important. 



t Least important. 



A "Committee on the Elementary Course of Study" has 

pubHshed a Bulletin through the Minnesota State Depart- 
ment of Education (Saint Paul) in which it has also attempted 
to state minimal essentials in elementary school subjects. 

The Iowa State Teachers' Association published exten- 
sive reports on ''Elimination of Subject-Matter," in 191 5 and 
1 916.1 'pj^jg committee recommends from arithmetic the elim- 
ination of: formal number work in the first year, the greatest 
common divisor, complex fractions, fractions with large de- 
nominators, puzzle problems, long process of division of frac- 
tions, decimals beyond three places, Troy weight, apothecaries' 
weight, surveyor's measure, table for folding paper, tables of 
foreign money, reduction of compound numbers beyond two 
or three places, compHcated and imaginary problems involv- 
ing percentage, more than one method of finding interest, 
annual interest, true discount,^ partial payments,^ partnership 
with time, foreign exchange, compound proportion, cube root, 
metric system, and a number of other topics. Topics to be 
emphasized are also given. 

Other reports are to be found in these volumes on: lan- 
guage and grammar, writing, geography, hygiene, history, 
and spelling. These are of the greatest value to teachers 
and superintendents. 

1 Obtainable free of charge from Professor G. M. Wilson, Ames, Iowa. 

2 Modified somewhat in the second report. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 33 

In general, there are certain fundamentals in education 
for a democracy like ours which we should be determining. 
The teacher will profit in many ways by such selection. 
Since she is now overburdened with a jumble of subject- 
matter, her burden would be lightened; wise selection and 
organization on scientific and social grounds would help her 
teaching; tests of her work would be much fairer, since they 
would test for essentials which she would know in advance, 
whereas at present she too frequently has little chance of 
learning the requirements except by studying the personali- 
ties of the supervisors and examiners; she herself would also 
use at all times the same standards as her superiors in judg- 
ing relative values. The school need not thus become more 
mechanical, since more time will be available for other types 
of teaching exercises than drill, and drill would become more 
meaningful. The values of life are the final standards, and 
these each teacher must, in her own community and in her 
own country at large, assiduously study. Personal, first-hand 
acquaintance with the problems which the plain people of 
her community meet day by day, and acquaintance with the 
types of Hfe toward which they are more or less blindly striv- 
ing, are necessary for her own more ultimate standards. All 
three methods of determining the essential school activities 
should be utilized: (i) by applying the five great aims of 
education, (2) by studying the needs and problems of the 
people, and (3) by using objective scales and standards, as 
in writing and reading. 

Later chapters will emphasize this social relationship of 
the teacher in connection with the suggestions for selecting 
and teaching the elementary school subjects.^ 

^ Other chapters on "The Learning Process" and "The Teaching Process," 
by the editor, were excluded because of lack of space and are to be found in 
American Education (Albany) from February to June, 191 7, in series. Reprints 
obtainable from the editor. 



34 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

SUMMARY 

1. We as teachers need to view ourselves professionally and take 

steps which will make our profession more than a mere trade. 

2. A more critical and scientific spirit is leading education to firmer 

ground on which definite aims can be ascertained. 

3. The problem of education is to promote growth and social happi- 

ness through social efficiency — to help people solve the problems 
of life. 

4. These problems may be classified into five main groups and stated 

as phases of social efficiency to be developed, namely, vital 
efficiency, vocational efficiency, civic efficiency, moral efficiency, 
and avocational efficiency. 

5. The changes which can be made in individuals to help them meet 

these ends are both physical and mental. On the mental side 
the chief changes are those in knowledge, habits, ideals, and ap- 
preciations. These aims and changes give us certain standards 
for guiding education. Doctor Yocum classifies the changes 
differently. 

6. The determinants of educational policy are fixed also by the na- 

ture of American society, of American children, and of the 
American school itself. 

7. We need ability in selecting those activities and those phases of 

subject-matter which are most educative. 

8. Professor Frank McMurry and Professor Yocum have both at- 

tempted to give us standards by which to select and reject sub- 
ject-matter. 

9. Professor McMurry's standards state that those phases of sub- 

ject-matter are most valuable which best meet the aims of edu- 
cation, i. e., are most clearly related to the needs of life and 
which appeal most to the pupils as worth while. Professor 
Yocum would add to these two principles a few others. 

10. The theory of formal discipline should not be used as a standard 

for judging the value of subject-matter. 

11. The standards when applied seem of value in the selection and 

rejection of subject-matter. The five aims, the common needs 
of people, and objective standards of achievement should all be 
used in determining the essentials. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

I. Make a list of the minimal essentials in knowledge, skill, and 
ideals which a girl and a boy should have at the end of the 
sixth year. At the end of the eighth year.i 

^ Boston public schools have made partial lists. 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 



35 



2. (a) To what extent can we depend upon valuable, formal mental 

discipline from the study of subjects or parts of subjects which 
we do not need in life? (b) What are the leading articles and 
books on this problem ? (c) If you can, get up a debate, half 
of your class or study group taking one side and the other half 
the other. 

3. What would you have to put into your school activities to de- 

velop more effectively the type of men and women you need in 
your community? 

4. Do the people of your community regard well-used leisure as an 

end for which education is desirable? Do they have sufficient 
leisure, and do they use it well? How can your school best 
help to meet this problem for old and young? 

5. How much time can be saved pupils in arithmetic by excusing 

from drill on essentials those who have attained a reasonable 
standard and by giving other work or recreation to them ? 

6. If you were in a rural community how could you learn what types 

of arithmetic problems the people most needed preliminary 
school help in solving? (See Thomas' "Rural Arithmetic") 

7. Send to the U. S. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C, for a 

list of its bulletins. On this list check those which you consider 
most valuable. Send for some or all of them. 

8. What are the leading educational magazines? Which two or 

three would be most helpful to you as a teacher, and how much 
do they cost a year ? Send for sample copies. 

9. Make a list of the schools or systems which seem to-day to be 

best adjusting the schools to the needs of children and their 
communities. 
10. Make a list of principles or standards of your own for judging the 
relative value of different subjects and topics. How do you 
differ from Professors McMurry and Yocum ? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. Ayres— "The Cleveland Survey." (Russell Sage Foundation.) 

2- "Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling." (Russell Sage 

Foundation.) 

3- "Springfield School Survey." 

4. Bachman— "Principles of Elementary Education." D. C Heath 

&Co. 

5. Bagley— "The Educative Process." Macmillan Co. 

6. Bobbitt— "What the Schools (of Cleveland) Teach and Might 

Teach." (Russell Sage Foundation.) 

7- "Survey of the Public Schools of San Antonio, Texas," 

Board of Education or World Book Co. 



^6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

8. Charters — ''A Course of Study in Grammar," Bulletin of the Uni- 
versity of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 

g. Courtis — "Courtis Tests in Arithmetic," S. H. Courtis, Detroit, 
Mich. (See also his tests for other subjects.) 

10. Cubberley — "Changing Conceptions of Education." Houghton, 

Mifflin Co. 

11. "Rural Life and Education." Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

12. "Portland and Salt Lake School Surveys." World Book 

Co. 

13. Devine — "Education and Social Economy." Proceedings of the 

National Education Association for 19 14. 

14. Dewey — "Education" in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education. 

Article on Education. See also articles on Course of Study and 
Values, Educational. Macmillan Co. 

15. "Democracy and Education." Macmillan Co. 

16. "The Schools of To-Morrow." Dutton & Co. 

17. Foght — "Efficiency and Preparation of Rural Teachers," Bulle- 

tin of the U. S. Bureau of Education. See also Coffman in 
Proceedings of the National Education Association for 1913. 

18. Henderson — "Principles of Education." Macmillan Co. 

19. McMurry — "Elementary School Standards." World Book Co. 

20. Milton — "Tractate on Education," in "Painter's Great Peda- 

gogical Essays." American Book Co. 

21. Palmer — "Trades and Professions." Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

22. Quick — "The Brown Mouse," a novel for rural teachers. Bobbs, 

Merrill Co. 

23. Maxon—" Self-Keyed Number Cards." J. S. Hammet & Co., 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

24. Rapeer — "Educational Hygiene." Charles Scribner's Sons. 

25. "College Entrance Requirements," School and Society for 

January 8 and April, 191 6. 

26. "Rural School Hygiene." Published by the author. 

27. "School Health Administration." (Teachers College, 

Columbia University.) 

28. "Educational Sociology" in American Education for June, 

1915- 

29. "The Secondary School Teachers of Prussia," in Education 

for April, 19 13. 

30. Thompson — "Minimum Essentials of School Subjects." Ginn & 

Co. 

31. Thorndike — "The Psychology of Learning." (Teachers College, 

Columbia University.) 

32. "Education." 



THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS 37 

33. Sears— In the "Survey of the Schools of Salt Lake City." World 

Book Co. 

34. Wilson — "Motivation of School Work." Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

35. Winslow — "Richmond School Survey," U. S. Dept. of Labor. 

"Minneapolis Survey," National Association for the Promotion 
of Industrial Education. " Cleveland Survey," Sage Founda- 
tion. 

36. Yocum — "Culture, Discipline, and Democracy." C. Sowers Co. 

37. "The Determinants of the Course of Study" in Proceedings 

of the National Education Association for 1914. 

38. "The Course of Study as a Test of Efficiency of Super- 
vision," National Education Association Proceedings, 1916. 

39. "Second Report of the Committee on Minimal Essentials in Ele- 

mentary School Subjects," published by the Public School 
Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111, 

40. The Iowa State Teachers' Report on Elimination of Subject- 

Matter from the Elementary Curriculum, is very helpful. Prof. 
G. M. Wilson, Ames, Iowa, chairman and distributor. 

41. Elementary school teachers should take and read The Elementary 

School Journal, published by The University of Chicago Press, 
Chicago, 111. 



CHAPTER II 

SPELLING 

Preliminary Problems 

1. How many words should elementary school children be taught to 

spell ? 

2. How should these words be graded ? 

3. How many words should be taught in one lesson? 

4. What proportion of the time of each lesson period should be de- 

voted to review work? 

5. How frequently should the entire period be devoted to review 

work? 

6. How far are we justified in teaching new words for the purpose 

of enriching the pupils' vocabularies? 

7. What relation may exist between the number and length of the 

learning periods on the one hand, and the grade of the pupil 
on the other hand? 

8. What bearing upon the content of spelling have the reading, 

speaking, and writing vocabularies of pupils? 

9. What habits in relation to spelling is it desirable for pupils to 

develop ? 
10. What is it to "know how to spell"? When does a pupil need to 
know how to spell? 

Two Lines of Development. — The pedagogy of spelling 
has taken, of recent years, two definite lines of development. 
The first concerns itself vdth the content or material taught; 
the second concerns itself with the learning process. In both 
instances, what writers have to say is being based on actual 
experimental investigation, rather than upon statements of 
opinion derived from philosophical postulates. 

I. The Content of Spelling. Selection of Words 

The content of spelling is the words to be studied. We 
are here concerned, primarily, with the selection of a fitting 

38 



SPELLING 



39 



material for teaching. We no longer hope, on the one hand, 
to teach children many thousands of words, including a great 
proportion of unusual ones, as has been in vogue where co- 
pious spelHng-books have been in use, nor, on the other hand, 
are we any longer under the delusion that children's vocab- 
ularies are exceedingly meagre. Such statements, for in- 
stance, as that five or six hundred words are all that are 
necessary for carrying on the ordinary communications of 
life are now known to be grossly in error. Several experi- 
ments have been carried out, tending to establish the number 
of words in the vocabulary of children as being much higher 
than had been supposed. 

Material of Spelling — Jones. — One of the earHest of these 
is by Doctor Jones, of the department of education. Uni- 
versity of South Dakota [7]. The problem was to determine 
''what words, grade for grade, do children use in their own, 
free, written speech, and what words, therefore, do they need 
to know how to spell?" In making up his lists of words, 
Doctor Jones assigned the words to the lowest grade in which 
three per cent or more of the pupils used them in spontane- 
ously written work. He gives his Hsts for each grade, find- 
ing the following as a summary of the number of words 
used : 

2d grade 1,927 words 

3d grade — new words added to 2d grade list 469 " 

4th grade— " 

5 th grade — " 

6 th grade— " 

7 th grade — " 
8th grade— " 



previous lists 442 

" 432 

" 425 

" 419 

" 418 



Total ■ 4,532 words 



Doctor Jones also finds that the number of words, per 
pupil, is, on the average, unusually high. He gives the fol- 
f owing table: 



40 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Grade 2 521 words 

3 908 '' 

4 1,235 " 

5 1,489 " 

6 1,710 " 

7 1,926 " 

8 2,135 " 

These figures represent words used by children '^in their own 
free, written speech." They are, ''therefore," the words 
that they "need to know how to spell." Undoubtedly this 
is true. There is danger, however, that in emphasizing the 
writing vocabularies of children as indicating what words 
they need to know how to spell, we lose sight of the fact that 
we should strive, also, to enrich their vocabularies — writing, 
speaking, and reading. The spelling lesson is certainly one 
of the agencies whereby useful words not yet known may be 
taught. Words not yet in the writing vocabulary, but in the 
larger speaking vocabulary or the still larger reading vocab- 
ulary, may be worked over into the writing vocabulary; and 
in this work the spelling lesson should play a part. If, there- 
fore, the effect of the recent vocabulary studies is to limit 
teaching merely to those words which children already know 
well enough to use them in written discourse, the studies will 
have overshot their mark. Their legitimate effect should 
be to point out first essentials, but not to limit spelling mate- 
rial to them. 

Vocabularies of Letters — A3rres. — The study of Doctor 
Ayres on the vocabularies of personal and business letters [i] 
throws further light on the proper materials for spelling. 
This vocabulary is made from letters written by adults. A 
comparison of it with a few pages from the ordinary spelling- 
book suggests a part of the reason why instruction in spelling 
is not more effective. Doctor Ayres found, for instance, that 
of the 414 words in the National Education Association 
lists, only 125 were found in the two thousand letters which 
he analyzed, no one of the remaining 289 appearing even once. 



SPELLING 41 

*'This seems," he says, "to be good evidence that useful spell- 
ing lists cannot be compiled by sitting at the desk and decid- 
ing which words people ought to know how to spell. What 
we must know is, rather, which are the words that ordinary 
people need to know how to spell." Doctor Ayres pubHshes 
a list of 542 words which, with their repetitions, constitute 
seven-eighths of the 23,629 words tabulated. He gives the 
number of times each word appeared in the personal and 
business letters. He gives no words which occurred fewer 
than six times. I cannot help thinking that he would have 
added a very useful list of words if he had given us those that 
were used, say, from two to five times. Of course, some of 
these last would have been of relatively little use, but the 
greater part of them, if we may judge from the character of 
those that were used six times, would have been a valuable 
addition to his Hst. Doctor Ayres has also pubHshed a thou- 
sand-word list which we give on another page. 

Other Vocabulary Studies. — ^Another vocabulary study 
was made by R. C. Eldridge, who examined two pages each 
of four different newspapers [6]. From this examination he 
found that 6,002 different words were used in an aggregate 
of 43,989 words. He publishes this list of different words, 
arranging them in the order of their frequency of occurrence. 
The method is similar to that of Doctor Ayres. It is, how- 
ever, carried out upon different material, and affords a more 
extensive list, largely because every word is included, no 
matter how many times it occurred. Eldridge also gives a list 
of words compiled in 1904 by the Reverend J. Knowles of 
London [8]. This list appeared in a pamphlet entitled ''The 
London Point System of Reading for the BHnd." It con- 
sisted of 353 words, with the number of times each word oc- 
curred in "passages from the English Bible and from various 
authors containing 100,000 words." 

Probably the most interesting study of the subject of 
spelling, both from the point of view of the lists of words 
proposed, and also from the point of view of the many ques- 



42 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

tions upon which it throws light, is Cook & O'Shea's ''The 
Child and His Spelling" [5]. The word lists are derived from 
the social and family correspondence of thirteen persons, dif- 
fering in sex, age, education, and experience. There are four 
lists, the first consisting of 186 words, used by all the corre- 
spondents; the second consisting of 577 words, used by a 
majority of the correspondents; the third consisting of 2,207 
words, used by more than one but less than a majority of 
the correspondents, and the fourth consisting of 2,230 words, 
used by but one of the correspondents. The first three of 
these lists are published. Data are given in connection with 
all these words, tending to show to what extent they are used 
in modern spelling-books, to what extent the words are peculiar 
to the vocabulary of men or of women, and whether they 
appeared in the hsts of Ayres or of Chancellor [4]. 

In the three pubhshed lists of Cook & O'Shea there are 
2,970 different words — a number which would be consider- 
ably increased if, as in the case of Eldridge's list, all inflec- 
tions of forms were counted as separate words. Including 
the words used by but one of the correspondents, there were 
5,200 different words that appeared at least once. This is 
exclusive of all proper names, foreign phrases, and inflected 
forms. 

A number of other studies which have appeared upon the 
content of spelling might be mentioned. A pamphlet pre- 
pared by E. E. Lewis [9], for use in high schools, contains 
material derived from the lists of Jones, Eldridge, Ayres, and 
Cook & O'Shea, together with a selection from words com- 
monly misspelled by high-school students. Another pam- 
phlet, published as Bulletin No. i of the Boston Department 
of Educational Investigation and Measurement (Doctor 
Frank W. Ballou, director) contains '' Provisional Minimum 
and Supplementary Lists of Spelling Words for Pupils in 
Grades I to VIII" [2]. A report by Nicholas Bauer, entitled 
^'The Writing Vocabulary of Pupils of the New Orleans 
Public Schools" [3], is a compilation in graded lists of the 



SPELLING 



43 



words found to have been used in the themes of approxi- 
mately 18,000 children in the third to the eighth grades in- 
clusive. Attempts to bring the modern idea as to the con- 
tent of spelling into the covers of text-books have likewise 
been made by Studley & Ware, who have prepared a graded 
word list and teachers' manual for elementary schools, the 
hst of words being selected from nine thousand compositions 
written by elementary school pupils [13]; and by Miss Anne 
Nicholson in ''A Speller for the Use of the Teachers of Cali- 
fornia" [10]. Pryor's list is also very suggestive [11]. 

The Number of Words We Use. — These vocabulary 
studies show that we use a very few words a great many 
times. The word the is by far the most frequently used word 
in the language. On the average it occurs once in every six- 
teen words of written discourse. And, of, and to each occur 
about once in every thirty words, and / about once in every 
forty. These five words taken together constitute, on the 
average, from one-sixth to one-fifth of the number of running 
words in written discourse. Adding to them the next four 
words in the order of frequency, namely a, in, that, and you, 
we have 9 words which, with their repetitions, constitute 
one-quarter of all the words we write. The 50 commonest 
words constitute one-half, and the 278 commonest three- 
quarters of our written words. 

It will be seen that the number of words included increases 
very rapidly for equal added proportions of total words 
written. The accompanying figure will make this still more 
evident. The data for this figure are taken from Ayres's 
"Measurement of Abihty in Spelling" [14 : 12-20]. It was 
compiled from the original material of Knowles [8], Eldridge 
[6], Ayres [i], and Cook & O'Shea [5]. The horizontal scale 
is for numbers of words in the order of their frequency. The 
vertical scale is for the percentage of running words in written 
material represented by the number of words shown on the 
horizontal scale. From this figure it is seen that the 100 most 
frequently used words comprise 60 per cent of the words used 




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SPELLING 45 

in writing; that the 200 commonest words comprise 70 per 
cent; the 400, 80 per cent; the 850, 90 per cent; while the 
1,000 commonest words comprise 92 per cent of written dis- 
course. 

We thus have in Doctor Ayres's compilation an important 
contribution to the content of our teaching of spelHng. It is, 
as he calls it, "a foundation vocabulary," and no Hst of words 
for the use of elementary schools should fail to include it. 

This does not mean, however, that there are not a great 
many frequently used words other than those in Doctor 
Ayres's list. The least common words in his list are, never- 
theless, so necessary in the expression of our ideas that they 
suggest the existence of numerous other words only a little 
less useful than themselves, and quite indispensable in the 
written vocabulary of the majority of people. Instances of 
words not found in the list are: ankle, apple, ate, banana, 
base, basket, bath, battle, beans, beautiful, because, bird, bite, 
bottle, bread, breath, breathe, bright, broad, brown, bundle. 
These words are taken from a list prepared for elementary 
school use, and from which words presenting no important 
spelling difficulty had been excluded. Only words beginning 
with a or h were consulted. These words, any one will agree, 
stand for ideas which are common to every age and to every 
walk in life. I cite them, not as a criticism of Doctor Ayres's 
list, but as a caution against supposing that because his words 
constitute more than 90 per cent of the written words exam- 
ined in a rather large amount of material, they are anything 
more than they pretend to be, namely ''a foundation vocab- 
ulary." 

Nor does this vocabulary mean that all the words in it 
should be presented as spelling material. There are many 
which offer no spelling difficulty. The few mistakes that 
children make in writing them are due to motor inco-ordina- 
tions, to "slips of the pen." The eradication of such errors 
is not specifically a spelling problem. The habit of looking 
at a word after it has been written is worth inculcating, al- 



46 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

though it is possible that such a habit may interfere at times 
with free and vigorous composition. Doubtless it is true in 
spelHng, as in every human endeavor, that a certain amount 
of imperfection must be expected. It is certain that to labor 
for higher results on words which children already habitually 
spell, say 97 to 100 per cent correct, is a waste of time and 
energy. 

II. The Content of Spelling. The Difficulty 
OF Words 

The Analysis of Spelling Material. — Another way of ap- 
proaching the matter of the content of spelling is to analyze 
the spelhng papers which children write. It is probably true 
that not only in spelhng, but also in all subjects of the ele- 
mentary school curriculum, the constant pressure for higher 
efficiency and greater economy of time will make it necessary 
to analyze, critically, the material which we teach. I have 
attempted to do something in this way in a former study of 
spelling [15]. I have shown that the words of a given list 
tend to maintain the same order of difficulty in each grade, 
and that this tendency is also strongly in evidence as between 
schools in different localities. Consequently, it may be main- 
tained that the difficulties which words have are more or less 
to be found in all grades and localities. I have shown, also, 
how words may be combined into groups of equal difficulty, 
and into groups differing in point of difficulty, by equal 
amounts. Not the least significant portion of this study is 
that in which the arrangement of fifty words, according to 
teachers' judgments of their spelhng difficulty, is compared 
with the arrangement of the same words on the basis of 
actual testing. If it is found that the trustworthiness of 
the judgment of a single teacher is of almost no value at all; 
if it is found, for instance, that the one word which was in- 
contestably the hardest of the Hst was, by more than one- 
fourth of the teachers, judged to be actually the easiest or 
next to the easiest; if the relation of individual judgments, 




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SPELLING 47 

to the result of testing, show practically a zero correlation, 
then an important commentary is made upon why children 
spell so poorly. It may, for instance, be suggested that 
children do not spell certain words because their teachers do 
not know that they are hard to spell. It may be inferred 
that a more accurate knowledge of the difficulty of words 
and of the usefulness of words would enable the emphasis to 
be put in the right place. The studies which have to do with 
the difhculty and the usefukiess of words are only a begin- 
ning and a prophecy of what may and should be done to make 
the content of spelling conform to the requirements of written 
discourse and to the economy of classroom instruction. 
Even now there is no good reason why a teacher should not 
be acquainted with the difficulty of a large number of words. 
In addition to the study which I made in 1913, a somewhat 
similar study was made by Doctor Ayres of the difficulty of 
each of the words comprising his '' foundation vocabulary," 
to which I referred above. No adequate description or 
criticism of this admirable piece of work can be attempted 
within the Hmits of this chapter. The book and the spelling 
scale which accompanies it should be in the hands of every 
teacher of spelling. The list is presented herewith. The 
scale shows the marks by grades which children made who 
never had drilled on this particular list. 

Need of a Uniform Material for Test Purposes. — The 
bearing which a study of the difficulty of words has upon the 
experimental investigation of problems in spelling ought to 
be indicated. The field of inquiry in this subject, as well as 
in other school subjects, has been restricted by the fact that 
we possess no material of equal difficulty by which the ability 
resultant from given methods or processes may be deter- 
mined. Attempts have been made to decide between a drill 
method and an incidental method of teaching spelling. The 
results are conflicting and are likely to remain so as long as 
the material which forms the basis of testing the results of 
the rival methods continues to be of varying difficulty. It is 



48 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

true that investigators have chosen groups of words which 
they judged to be of equal difficulty, but we have already 
seen how astonishingly unreliable their judgments are likely 
to be. Doctor Judd's survey of spelling in Cleveland schools 
has left the problem open. 

Conflicting Evidence in Experimental Inquiry. — Experi- 
mental inquiry in regard to spelling is in somewhat the same 
condition that it was in regard to memory before Ebbinghaus 
invented his system of nonsense syllables and thereby gave 
the science of experimental psychology a material of sub- 
stantially uniform difficulty. We may speculate as to a 
^'best" method of teaching spelling, as to the proper length 
and number of periods of work, or as to the effect of training 
with specific lists on the general power to spell. We may 
even seek to decide these questions experimentally; and it is 
quite conceivable that by these processes of speculation and 
experimentation some knowledge will be gained. But a great 
deal of conflicting evidence will be obtained; and it is to be 
feared that, as in the past, our knowledge will be too often 
indefinite and inconclusive, unless we have at hand a suffi- 
cient body of material of known difficulty. The construc- 
tion of such a body of material is at present the most im- 
portant experimental work to be done in the field of spelling, 
as perhaps it is in other fields. Doubtless it is more attrac- 
tive to attack problems of method, or of fatigue, or of the 
influence of ideational types; but the humbler task is the one 
that is immediately necessary. 

III. The Method of Teaching Spelling. Presentation 

Method and the Learning Process. — Meanwhile, however, 
we may properly turn our attention to what has been done 
toward establishing a method of teaching spelling. As stated 
at the beginning of this chapter, the tendency at present is 
to develop our methods of presentation with reference to the 
learning process itself. Our inquiry now is centering in the 
learner rather than in the teacher. In conformity with this 



SPELLING 49 

tendency we are seeking, in the first place, to know how a 
given material may best be observed, imprinted, and re- 
tained; and in the second place, what the role of the teacher 
should be with reference to these processes. 

I do not propose to enter at any length into the details of 
teaching devices. Many of these have often been formulated. 
Sometimes they appeal to our judgment as worth while, and 
sometimes they do not. For most of them there has been 
no evidence presented which commands our respect. 

Pronunciation, Meaning, and Spelling. — Obviously, how- 
ever, the factors of pronunciation and of meaning are insepara- 
bly bound with the factor of spelling, and no correct method 
will neglect any one of the three [25 : 29^.].^ Methods will 
differ, and doubtless should differ, in the way these factors are 
presented and the emphasis that is placed on each, according 
to the nature of the words to be taught, the character of the 
class, the time at the teacher's disposal, etc. Among good 
teachers, probably the most usual method of teaching meaning 
is by discussion and use of the word in natural contexts before 
the spelling is taught, supplemented later by a frequent use of 
the word and an encouragement of pupils to do the same. 

Measures of Prevention. — The conscious attempt to pre- 
vent the first appearance of any misspellings is worth men- 
tioning as a principle which is in full accordance with the 
psychology of habit [38 : 13]. It is hard to form correct re- 
actions after wrong ones have been set up. 

Initial Focalization. — Another principle which is derived 
from the law of habit formation is that the words should be 
strongly focalized when first presented. As to the manner 
of this focalization, the most frequent method is an appeal 
to as many senses as possible. ''Combine the sight of the 
new word with the analytical copying of it, plus at least a 
whispered pronunciation of its constituent elements." — 
(Meumann.) The Hterature on this subject is rather co- 
pious, and especially so if we include certain memory studies 

^ Reference 25, page 29, at end of chapter. 



5d TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

which have been drawn upon to help decide the question. 
The entire subject is compHcated by the learner's imagery 
type. If he is dominantly visual-minded, a visual presenta- 
tion will facilitate the use of his preferred mode of learning. 
If his imagery is preferably of the auditory type, an oral pres- 
entation may prove to be the most effective single method. 
It is probably true, however, that, as Lay pointed out, vocali- 
zation and hand-motor processes are important aids for all 
types in learning the spelling of words [22 : 84]. For further 
evidence on this matter, the reader is referred to the sum- 
mary and references given by Miss Abbott in her admirable 
study [16 : 128-134]. It is apparent that no one method of 
presentation is always best. The age of the pupil and the 
character of the words have much to do with this. For 
irregular and difficult words visual presentation is better 
than auditory presentation, irrespective of age. For familiar 
words, auditory presentation is the better for young children, 
while visual presentation is superior in the case of older chil- 
dren and adults. Accordingly, since the determination of 
types of imagery is difficult and impracticable in schools, a 
combination method, such as Meumann's, quoted above, is 
more reliable; although the emphasis upon one or the other 
elements may be shifted according to the age of the pupils 
and the difficulty of the words. 

Importance of the Process of Recall. — There is an element 
in the learning process which it will be worth while con- 
sciously to develop. We have all noticed how general is the 
tendency in learning stanzas of poetry, to look away from the 
material, after a few readings, and to attempt to recall the 
material, referring to the printed words to correct errors or 
verify a tentative reproduction. This tendency of the 
learner is so strong that it must be an important part of the 
process. Witasek, experimenting with adults, found that 
six readings, combined with five attempted recitations, were 
more economical for learning than as many as twenty-one 
readings without any recitations; and his conclusions were 



SPELLING 51 

verified by Katzaroff. Miss Abbott, in her experiments on 
methods of presentation in speUing, reached similar conclu- 
sions. She presented one series by exposing each word for 
three seconds, allowing five seconds for recall before the next 
word was shown; in another series each word was shown for 
five seconds with three seconds for recall; and in a third series, 
seven seconds were allowed for exposure, and one second for 
recall. It was found that the method which allowed five 
seconds of the entire eight seconds for recall was the superior 
method, both as regarded immediate spelHng and spelling 
after an interval of four days. "We may conclude," she says, 
"that it is of especial value to convert the perceptive process 
into terms of imagery, ... of more value than if the time 
had been spent on repeating the perceptive process" [16 : 153].^ 
Time Allowance for Perception and Recall. — In practice 
it will be found that the time to be devoted to perception will 
vary with the difficulty of the word, being longer for the more 
difficult words. A uniform time is not desirable. It is best 
that the perception of a word and its recall should each be 
just long enough for the learner to complete the required 
process. A longer time in either case results in a decrease in 
attention and a deterioration in the result. In this connec- 
tion, the use of perception cards, each containing a single word, 
will be found more effective than the writing of the words on 
the blackboard. The cards may be inserted in a frame after 
the first presentation of the word [20]. 

^ See also a study by the same author, "On the Analysis of the Factor of 
Recall in the Learning Process," Psych. Rev. Mon. No. 44, pp. 159-177. In 
this study the conclusion is reached that, supposing the time devoted to learn- 
ing a given material to be constant, the recall process is always an aid, that 
if it comes after the Einprdgung (perceptive process) its value decreases as 
delay increases, and that it is of most value when interspersed with the Ein- 
priigung. It would seem, therefore, that the best method in spelling would 
not only include a presentation, calculated to induce a strong perception, but 
also one or more provisions for recall followed by a direct reference to the words 
for correction, verification, and strengthening of the impression. 



52 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

IV. The Method of Teaching Spelling. Management 

More important than the presentation is the management 
of the spelHng material. By management I mean (a) the 
regulating of the periods of work, according to the time as- 
signed to the subject, and (b) the arrangement for relearning 
or reviewing the material. 

The Superiority of Short and Frequent Periods. — What 
evidence we possess tends strongly to show the superiority of 
short and frequent periods in the learning process. This is 
so generally true that it may be accepted as a rule for our 
guidance, although it is clear that the shortening of the period 
may be carried to the point of diminishing returns. A cer- 
tain adjustment to the task in hand is necessary, both physi- 
cally and mentally. Some time is lost in getting ready. 
Accordingly, if periods are made too short, a large percentage 
of time is lost. But, having decided how much time per 
week may be used for spelling work, it is well to make the 
learning periods short enough so that the attention of the 
pupils may be concentrated throughout. In ten of the lead- 
ing American cities an average of 7.22 per cent of the time is 
spent on spelUng as a subject [38]. If the week has 5 school 
days of 5 hours each, this would give 108 minutes a week. 
Probably six or seven 15-minute periods (that is, two periods 
on I or 2 days of the week) will prove more effective than 
the more conventional arrangement of 20 minutes daily. 
Drill periods may well be shorter than teaching (presentation) 
periods. A daily 5-minute period for rapid drill, in addition 
to a 15-minute period for general instruction, has been found 
to work well. Ten-minute recitation periods have also proved 
successful. It is a matter to be decided by the capacity of 
the pupils for sustained and intensive effort. With young 
children two lo-minute periods, or one lo-minute period and 
two 5-minute periods will give good results. Indeed, both with 
young and older children it is highly advantageous to take 
two or three minutes several times a day for rapid oral drill. 



SPELLING 53 

Setting a Time Limit. — It is frequently good practice to 
set a time limit within which the pupils are to see how much 
they can accomplish. For any kind of school work it makes a 
great deal of difference in securing the maximum of atten- 
tion whether a teacher says ''work on this for the rest of the 
period," or "see how much you can get done in five minutes." 

The Need and the Effect of Relearning— Jest's Law. — 
The second factor in what I have called management con- 
cerns itself with the relearning or review of the words already 
learned. When material has once been learned only up to 
the point of a first errorless reproduction, there is no guar- 
antee that permanent retention has been secured. In fact, 
in all but the most meaningful material, where the associative 
connections are very strong, it is generally true that the 
learner is quite unable to reproduce after an interval of a 
few days or weeks what he was easily able to reproduce im- 
mediately after presentation. But the first learning has left 
its trace. The material may be relearned in much less time 
and with more permanent effect than was true in the first 
instance. The law formulated by Jost^ is operative in this 
connection, namely, that (i) "If two associations are of the 
same strength but of different age, a new repetition will have 
the greater value for the older one," and that (2) "If two 
associations are of equal strength but of different age, the 
older one will decrease the less with time." Translated into 
a concrete situation, this means that if the learner, or a class 
of learners, is equally capable of spelling two words, one of 
which was learned yesterday and the other to-day, equal 
effort spent in relearning each will tend more to the permanent 
acquisition of yesterday's word than to that of to-day's word. 
The correct procedure, therefore, seems to be to make the 
initial presentation of the new words of a lesson strong and to 
secure focal attention upon them up to the point of errorless 
spelling; but to go no further at that time. TJtie additional 
minutes thus spent will not be so well employee} .as they 
^ Ueber das Gedachtniss, Leipzig, 1885. 



54 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

would be, let us say, an hour later. This has bearing, from 
another point of view, upon what I have said about the value 
of short and frequent periods. 

Systematic Reviews. The Cleveland Plan. — In a more 
formal way than by these brief "relearning" periods, pro- 
vision should be made for systematic reviews. This is the 
chief reason for the success of the plan which has been car- 
ried out at Cleveland. The words taught yesterday are re- 
viewed with those taught to-day. Those taken up as new 
words last week are reviewed in connection with those taken 
up this week. After eighty new words have been taught, 
they are reviewed a third time for a test to which added in- 
terest is given by the fact that all classes of the same grade 
are simultaneously tested throughout the school system on 
the same words and the results pubHshed. At the end of the 
year and prior to a final examination, the words, then amount- 
ing to 320, are for a fourth time reviewed; and they are used 
a fifth time the following year, being taken up as subsidiary 
words in connection with a new list. I have myself used this 
plan for four years, with such modifications as the New York 
City course of study makes necessary (it required 600 words a 
year above the third grade), and I can vouch for its efficacy. 

Spelling in Context. — But all these reviews, while effec- 
tive for the limited series in question, will be essentially arti- 
ficial and unconnected with the real purpose of spelling in- 
struction unless they are supplemented and supported by a 
material and a method of a more vital character. We may 
drill children in oral spelling; and we certainly deny our- 
selves a very valuable instrument if we do not. But in life 
outside of the schoolroom, our pupils will never have occa- 
sion, except as a tour deforce, to spell orally. We may require 
our pupils to write words in columns ; and we may sometimes 
be justified in doing so in order to save time. But again they 
will not use their spelling ability in such a fashion. We may, 
ourselves, select the words which our pupils are to learn, and 
our greater experience ought to enable us to do so with good 



SPELLING 55 

effect. But in the situations in which they will have to spell, 
it is the pupils themselves who will choose the words. No 
proper method, therefore, will neglect the spelHng of words 
in context; and no test of our pupils' abihty will fail to mea- 
sure it in situations which approximate those of normal use. 
Moreover, we should get an important supplement to our 
standard list from the errors in spelling which they make in 
their own written work. 

Individual Spelling Lists. — In doing this, I have found it 
to be an invaluable aid in the teaching of spelling to have 
each pupil keep an individual spelling-book. He may be 
given a small blank book, and be required to alphabetize it 
and to enter in its proper alphabetical place any words which 
he finds he has used but has not spelled correctly. The alpha- 
betical arrangement facilitates reference and checks repeti- 
tion. The individual spelling-books will need to be super- 
vised carefully, and the pupil occasionally called upon to 
tell how many words he has gathered and to spell at least a 
random selection of them. By this means provision is made 
for his initiative; and, at least for these words, a real motive 
is supphed for learning to spell. There is an evident adjust- 
ment to individual needs — an adjustment more exact than 
is possible with any fixed list, however excellent.^ 

V. The Doctrine of Purpose 

The significance of the learner's purpose or intention in 
the learning process has lately received attention from many 
quarters. For a long time we have been familiar with the 
doctrine of purpose. We have read many discussions re- 
garding the aim of education; and it is conventional in books 
on special method to have much to say in the beginning about 
the purpose of the subject in question. It is expected also 
that each lesson plan prepared by teachers shall have its 
statement of aim. These formulations, when they are well 

^The editor also tried this "little-dictionary" plan and found it good 
while a principal in Minneapolis. 



56 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

made, have no small value; and it is by no means my inten- 
tion to deprecate them. But they are too often centered in 
the teacher, and too seldom concern the pupil. The real value 
of a purpose is first evident when it becomes the purpose of the 
child himself. It is not necessary, and it would not often be 
wise, to try to induce him to realize a philosophical conception 
of the aim of education, but it is quite possible and highly de- 
sirable that in all the learning he does he should be actuated 
by purposes that are true and valid for the work in hand. 

Evidence of the Effect of Purpose. — It has been conclu- 
sively shown by actual experiment that when the learner has 
a definite purpose in mind, the result is materially affected 
in the direction of the purpose. Meumann observes in this 
connection: ''One of the most important results of our re- 
cent investigation of the process of learning is the discovery 
of the extraordinary influence which the different intentions 
or attitudes of the learner exert upon his whole memorial 
process and upon his memorial results" [28 : 303, English 
edition]. It is found that when the purpose of the learner is 
to secure a permanent retention of the material which he is 
learning, he adopts an attitude different from that which he 
assumes when his purpose is merely to acquire the material 
temporarily. There is a different distribution of the activities 
of imprinting and recall, and a different adjustment of at- 
tention. In consequence of this, his permanent retention, 
as tested after a long interval, is markedly better than is 
that of a person who merely learns the same material for 
immediate reproduction or for temporary retention. 

What the Purpose Should Be in Learning to Spell. — 
There are many occasions when an immediate recall or a 
temporary retention is all that is desirable. But such is not 
the case in learning to spell. In this part of his school work, 
therefore, the first and most general condition is that the 
pupil shall have a definite purpose to learn the material 
permanently. In that event, the resulting influence of will 
and of attitude will, to a large degree, determine the nature 



SPELLING 



57 



of the memory effect. Quite apart, therefore, from a tech- 
nic of method or of drill, a great deal may be gained by 
setting up in the mind of the pupil the purpose and the will 
to retain permanently. It is proper to observe also that such 
retention is not conclusively shown by ability to spell a given 
series of words in a formal test, at however remote a period 
such a test may be given. The real test, and the one which 
the pupil will himself realize to be true and worthy, is the 
abihty to spell the words in spontaneously written discourse. 
The Importance of the Learner* s Consciousness of His 
Own Improvement. — A part of the purpose in learning must 
concern itself not only with the end of the process, but also 
with its progress. The intention to improve and the will to 
do so condition the success of the learner. It has been found 
in the numerous attempts which have been made, under ex- 
perimental conditions, to educate individuals in various acts 
of learning, that the greatest improvement resulted not from 
general guidance nor from admonition, nor from mere repeti- 
tion, but from an attempt to influence the will. An appeal 
to .the feehngs, the arousal of a desire to improve, and the 
heightening of the feehng of responsibiHty were found to be 
productive of the greatest practice effect. This truth has 
been emphasized by Meumann, who particularly notes the 
investigations of Borst [28 : 128, EngUsh edition]. Improve- 
ment in skill {e. g., in typewriting) has been shown to depend 
mainly upon the energy and intensity with which the idea of 
improvement is fixated, and with which practice is repeated 
under its influence.^ The most important factor in develop- 
ing this attitude has been found to be the learner's conscious- 
ness of his own improvement. On the other hand, practice with- 
out knowledge of results has been shown to be of no effect.^ 
The controlling influence of a consciousness of improvement 
was lacking. 

1 Book, W. F. "Psychology of Skill." 

2 Judd, C. H. "Practice without Knowledge of Results," Mon. Supp. VII, 
1905, pp. 185-198. 



58 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



VI. The Need for Standards 

The will to improve, however, cannot be a mere empty 
volition. It must be gauged by fixed standards — standards 
which have a definite objective meaning, and by reference 
to which the learner may note his own progress and compare 
his achievement with the achievement of others. Herein lies 
the chief value in the keeping and pubhshing of records. In 
spelling, the knowledge of what other children have done, 
i. e., the standards that they have reached, will have the 
same effect that such knowledge has had in athletics. Not 
long ago the world's record in the 100-yard dash was ten and 
one-fifth seconds. Only a few men could equal this time, 
and none could surpass it. Now there are hundreds of men 
who do so. The effect of the setting up of such standards is 
to furnish a continuous and strong incentive to greater ex- 
pertness; and such incentives, as have been pointed out, 
determine improvement. 

The Application of Standards in Spelling. — It is, therefore, 
greatly to be desired that standards in spelling may be set 
up; and it may not be too much to hope that by means of 
them a general improvement in spelling abihty may be 
brought about. We should know, and our pupils should 
know, how hard words and groups of words are in terms of 
the percentage of children who spell them correctly. We 
should know by how much, with any given material, one grade 
surpasses another lower grade. We should have an abun- 
dance of words of known difficulty, by means of which we 
may register progress in abihty, so that any one may know 
what we mean. It is much more satisfactory to be able to 
say to a child or to a class: "You spelled as well as most boys 
in the sixth grade," or, "You did better than eight out of ten 
children of the fifth grade can do," or, "You spelled ten per 
cent better than you did three months ago," than it is to say 
"You did very well," or "pretty well," or "a little better than 
last month." 



SPELLING 59 

We have all observed how decisively superior is the work 
of an excellent teacher with a poor method to that of a poor 
teacher with a good method. Indeed, it is often quite dis- 
concerting to find how unprofitable a much-lauded method 
may be in the hands of certain teachers. They may carry 
out to the minutest detail all the steps of the approved plan; 
and yet they may make dismal failures. It is probable, how- 
ever, that a truer insight would in any given instance reveal 
the fact that the method called ''poor" was, after all, the 
better one, because it satisfied the fundamentally necessary 
condition of supplying the learner with standards, purposes, 
and ideals that find bearing through the will to improve. 
But only a few of our teachers are gifted enough to supply 
these conditions from their own resources. For the rank 
and file of teachers we shall have to provide not only a tech- 
nic for presentation and for drill, but also standards by 
which they and their pupils may gauge their work. A pur- 
pose to learn, and a consciousness of progress may ensue for 
both teacher and pupil; and since it is precisely in these re- 
spects that the gifted teacher most conspicuously takes rank 
above the mediocre teacher, it is possible that the provision 
of definite, objective standards of work may do more than 
any other one thing to raise the general level of teaching 
ability. 

While, therefore, it seems to be true, as stated in the be- 
ginning, that the development of a method of procedure in 
spelling has lately gathered about two principal ideas (the 
content of the material to be learned, and the learning process 
itself), it is also true that neither idea can have its full effect 
except as it is supported by the other. The process of learn- 
ing is of no avail unless carried out upon a material that is 
rationally selected on the basis of its usefulness and its diffi- 
culty; while the best material and the most expert knowl- 
edge of its difficulty will have little effect except as these be- 
come the possession of the pupil and give propulsive force 
to his purpose and his will to learn. 



6o TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



SUMMARY 

1. A few words, making up a very large part of written and printed 

material, constitute a fundamental vocabulary. 

2. In such a vocabulary, however, many of the words present no 

spelling difficulty, while many words not included in it are, 
nevertheless, so useful that they constitute a necessary part of 
the verbal equipment of most literate people. 

3. One of the first requisites in teaching spelling is to know the 

difficulty of the words to be taught; and for this the judgment 
of individual teachers is exceedingly unreliable, unless it is based 
upon the success of children in their attempts to spell. 

4. In the measurement of spelling ability an evaluated test material 

in the form of words of known difficulty is required. Such ma- 
terial is gradually appearing. 

5. In the method of teaching spelling, both presentation and "man- 

agement" should rest upon the activities of the learner rather 
than upon those of the teacher. 

6. Initial focalization should be sharp and should involve a multiple 

sense appeal, with a shift of emphasis to the visual for older 
pupils and for especially difficult words, and to the auditory for 
young children; while both visual and auditory presentation 
should be reinforced by motor processes. 

7. The process of recall, as distinct from that of perception, should 

be consciously provided for in the presentation, and the aim 
should be to devote to each process just sufficient time for its 
completion. 

8. In the matter of "management," experimental evidence supports 

the superiority of short and frequent periods, especially for 
young children. 

9. Pupils should be encouraged to keep individual spelling lists and 

they should be tested upon these lists at frequent intervals. 

10. Since the learning process is affected by the purpose of the learner 

teachers should avoid allowing pupils to entertain the mere in- 
tention to retain temporarily. Not only permanent retention 
but ability to reproduce in spontaneously written discourse 
should be the purpose of the learner. 

11. It is demonstrated that knowledge of progress is a strong incen- 

tive, and this fact should be utilized by the keeping of system- 
atic records. 

12. For this purpose and for evaluating the work of grades and schools 

the need of definite objective standards of work is evident. 



SPELLING 6 1 



PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

r. from ten pages of the speller you are using select (a) the words 
which, in your judgment, all the children will use; (b) those which 
none of them will use unless they become highly educated. 

2. When children are writing should they be permitted to use the die 

tionary ? Should they be required to do so ? 

3. Group a term's assignment of words according to similarities in 

spelling. Teach the words by groups and compare the results 
v/ith results by your usual method. There is evidence (unpub- 
lished) in favor of grouping the words. See also Pryor [11 : 86]. 

4. Select from the 1,000 words of the Ayres [14] list those which, in 

your judgment, do not need to be taught. 

5. What relation exists between easy words and frequently used 

words, according to Doctor Ayres's report ? Do you think it may 
be possible to omit the teaching of many frequently used words, 
relying upon their repetition in use to "imprint" them perma- 
nently ? 

6. From Ayres's [14 : 43-50] alphabetical list select ten words and ar- 

range them in what you think is the order of their difficulty. 
Compare with the order of difficulty according to the scale. Con- 
tinue this exercise, increasing the number of words. Compare 
your reliability for short lists with your rehability for long lists. 

7. What rules do you find helpful in your own spelling? The case 

for rules is not made out, according to the reports. May this 
not be due to a general defect in the way they are taught? 

8. To what extent may matters of "Word Study" such as prefixes, 

suffixes and stems, synonyms, etc., be introduced to give "con- 
tent" to the work of the spelling period? What other kinds of 
"content" should be introduced? 

9. Secure a cross-ruled note-book, enter at the left of a double page 

the words of each written test you give. Along the top enter 
numbers for individual pupils. For each misspelling score under 
the pupil's number and opposite the word. After all scores are 
entered, the vertical totals will give the pupils' records and the 
horizontal totals the records for words. If these are kept over 
a series of terms, the teachers of the same grades co-operating, 
the material will be extremely valuable as a measure of the suc- 
cess of teaching, and as material for word analysis. 

10. What dictionary is best for each pupil to have in his desk and 

learn to use by using? How can the "dictionary habit" be 
developed ? 



62 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



SELECTION OF WORDS 



1. Ayres, Leonard P. — "The Spelling Vocabularies of Personal and 

Business Letters." Russell Sage Foundation. New York. 1912. 

2. Ballou, Frank W. — "Provisional Minimum and Supplementary- 

Lists of Spelling Words for Pupils in Grades I to VIII." Bul- 
letin No. I, Department of Educational Investigation and 
Measurement. Boston. 1914. 

3. Bauer, Nicholas — "The Writing Vocabulary of Pupils of the New 

Orleans Public Schools." New Orleans. 191 5. 

4. Chancellor, W. E.— "Spelling." Jour, of Education, 71:488, 

517, 545, 573, 607. Boston. 1910. 

5. Cook, W. A., & O'Shea, M. V.— "The Child and His Spelling." 

Indianapolis. 1914. 

6. Eldridge, R. C— "Six Thousand Common English Words." 

Niagara Falls, N. Y. 191 1. 

7. Jones, W. Franklin. — "Concrete Investigation of the Material 

of English Spelling." Vermillion, S. D. 1913. 

8. Knowles, J.— "The London Point System of Reading for the 

Blind." London. 1904. 

9. Lewis, E. E. — "Spelling List for Use in Normal Training High 

Schools." Circular No. 14, Iowa State Department of Public 
Instruction. Des Moines, la. 1914. 

10. Nicholson, Anne— "A Speller for the Use of Teachers of Cali- 

fornia." California State Printing Office. Sacramento, Cal. 
1914. 

11. Pryor, Hugh C. — "Spelling." Fourteenth Y ear-Book. National 

Society for the Study of Education. Part I, chap. VI. Chi- 
cago. 1915. Another list in the 1917 Year-Book, Part I. 
Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

12. "Spelling in Milwaukee." — Jour, of Education. Boston. 1910. 

13. Studley, C. K., & Ware, Allison. — "Common Essentials in Spell- 

ing." CaHfornia State Printing Ofhce. Sacramento, Cal. 
1914. 

THE DIFFICULTY OF WORDS 

14. Ayres, Leonard P. — "A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling." 

Russell Sage Foundation. New York. 191 5. 

15. Buckingham, B. R. — "Spelling Ability: Its Measurement and 

Distribution." Teachers Col., Columbia Univ. Contrib. to 
Educa. No. 59. New York. 1913. 



SPELLING 63 



THE METHODS OF TEACHING SPELLING 

16. Abbott, Edwina E. — "On the Analysis of Memory Consciousness 

in Orthography." Psych. Rev. Mon., XI, i, p. 127. Baltimore. 
1909. 

17. Burnham, William H. — "Hygiene and Psychology of Spelling." 

Ped. Sent., vol. XIII, pp. 481 to 489. (Account of Lay's ex- 
periments.) 1910. 

18. Charters, W. W. — "Teaching the Common Branches." Chap. I. 

Houghton, MifiElin Co. 1913. 

19. Fuchs, H., u. Haggenmiiller, A. — "Studien und Versuche iiber die 

Erlernung der Orthographic." ''Shiller's Sammlung von Ab- 
handl. aus dem Gebiete der Pad. Psychol," II Bd., 4 H. 1898. 

20. Goldwasser, I. E. — "Method and Methods in the Teaching of 

English. (Chapter on Spelling.) Boston. 1913. 

21. Itschner — "Lay's Rechtschreibreform." Jahrhuch d. Vereins fur 

Wissenschaftliche Pad. 1900. 

22. Lay, W. A. — "Fuhrer Durch den Rechtschreib-Unterricht." 4 

Auflage. Leipzig. 1913. 

23. Longenecker, Gertrude — "The Teaching of Spelling.'* San 

Diego, Cal. 1914. 

24. Kendall, Calvin N., & Mirick, Geo. A.— "How to Teach the Fun- 

damental Subjects." Pp. 122 to 144. Boston. 1915. 

25. Suzzallo, Henry — "The Teaching of Spelling." Teachers Col. 

Rec, Nov., 1911. 

THE LEARNING PROCESS 

26. Abbott, Edwina E. — "On the Analysis of the Factor of Recall in 

the Learning Process." Psych. Rev. Mon., XI, i, p. 159. Bal- 
timore. 1909. 

27. Colvin, S. S. — "The Learning Process," Macmillan Co. 1913. 

28. Meumann, E. — "Okonomie und Technik des Gedachtniss." 3 

Auflage. Leipzig. 191 2. Also translated by John Wallace 
Baird, and entitled, "The Psychology of Learning." D. Apple- 
ton Co. 1913. 

29. Freeman — "The Psychology of the Common Branches." Hough- 

ton, Mifflin Co. 

PERIODS OF WORK IN LEARNING 

30. Hahn, H. H., and Thorndike, E. L. — ''Some results of Practice 

in Addition Under School Conditions." Jour. Educa. Psych., 

V, 2. 



64 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

31. Kirby, Thomas J. — "Practice in the Case of School Children." 

Teachers Col., Columbia Univ. Contrib. to Educa. No. 58. 

1913. 

32. Pyle, W. H. — "Economical Learning." Jour. Educa. Psych., 

IV, 3. 

7,^. Starch, Daniel — "Periods of Work in Learning." Jour. Educa. 
Psych., Ill, 4. 

SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN SPELLING 

34. Charters, W. W.— "A Spelling Hospital in the High School." 

The School Review. Chicago. 1910. 

35. Cook, W. A.—" Shall We Teach Spelling by Rule ? " Jour. Educa. 

Psych., Ill, 6. 

36. Judd, C. H.— " Measuring the Work of the Public Schools." Rus- 

sell Sage Foundation. New York. 

37. Kline, Linus W. — "A Study in the Psychology of Spelling." Jour. 

Educa. Psych., Ill, 7. 

38. Suzzallo, Henry, and Pearson, Henry Carr — "Comparative Ex- 

perimental Teaching in Spelling." — Teachers Col. Rec, pp. 29^., 
Nov., 191 1. See also Professor Holmes's study of time spent 
on spelling in the Fourteenth Year-Book of the National Society 
for the Study of Education. Parti. Public School Publishing 
Co., Bloomington, 111. 

39. Wallin, J. E. Wallace — "Spelling Efficiency in Relation to Age, 

Grade, and Sex, and the Question of Transfer." Baltimore. 
1911. 

40. Winch, W. H. — "Experimental Researches on Learning to Spell." 

Jour. Educa. Psych., IV, 9 and 10. 1913. 

41. In the Elementary School Journal will frequently be found studies 

of spelling. 



CHAPTER III 

HANDWRITING 

Preliminary Problems 

1. Are you prepared to show your pupils how to write, or do you only 

tell them? 

2. Is your penmanship period dreaded by teacher and pupils or is 

it a period happily anticipated ? 

3. {a) Do you find pupils more easily interested by class instruction 

or individual teaching? 
{h) What, in your estimation, is the proper proportion? 

4. Are pupils more readily stimulated by the sense of acquired free- 

dom of movement and power or the ability to draw correct 
letters ? 

5. Do you prepare the penmanship lesson as carefully as you pre- 

pare the assignment in history or arithmetic ? 

6. What proportion of ''do" and "don't" should govern the pen- 

manship teacher's instruction to pupils? 

7. Do your pupils hand in as well executed work in English as in 

penmanship ? 

8. How nearly should this ideal be realized in every-day practice? 

9. Have you learned to interpret the meaning of jerky, uncertain 

lines ? Can you apply the proper remedy ? 
10. Are you motivating the work in penmanship to the extent that 
you do the other branches in the curriculum? 

I. Place of Handwriting in the Curriculum 

Too many teachers underestimate the place of penman- 
ship in the curriculum and what it requires of them in terms 
of preparation, skill, and enthusiasm. It should be as care- 
fully prepared and as successfully taught as any other sub- 
ject: the goal to be attained should be as definite, and results 
should be as critically estimated as they are, for example, 
in arithmetic. To a teacher who is able to meet such require- 
ments as these, penmanship becomes one of the most inter- 

65 



66 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

esting subjects she has to teach, for the fact that the results 
in it are tangible makes it easy to arouse the enthusiasm of 
children of all ages, and enthusiasm in both teacher and 
pupils is a prerequisite of success in any undertaking. 

Teacher Must Be Well Prepared. — Satisfactory results can 
never be reached by merely compelling children to imitate 
the copy in a writing-book. To give a general adverse criti- 
cism of a child's writing is useless unless the underlying diffi- 
culty can be found and remedied, if need be, by the illustra- 
tive teaching of correct forms and how to obtain them. If 
a class is required to master certain forms and movements 
and to attain a measure of muscular control, simple justice 
demands that the teacher previously shall have reached in 
actual practice the standard she upholds. 
1/ Correlation and Habit. — There is no subject in the school 
curriculum which, if it has been properly taught, may be so 
effectively correlated with other subjects; and one of the very 
first principles to be grasped is the necessity of insisting on 
excellence in all written work, whether it be the main point 
under consideration, as in the penmanship period, or incidental 
to other subjects. If the effort to improve is confined to the 
short time devoted to penmanship itself, it is impossible to 
produce a class of good writers, for when slovenly written 
work in other subjects is accepted by a teacher, even the best 
writers grow careless. The habit of writing well is fully as 
important as the ability to do so. Legibility is an easily 
recognized necessity, but in addition to good form and free- 
dom of line there must be a reasonable rate of speed, and the 
ability to maintain both form and speed for a reasonable 
length of time. In brief, the writing lesson must be entirely 
practical, and no better test of its practicality can be devised 
than this application of it to all subjects which find their 
expression through the written rather than the oral word. 

The Teaching of Beginners. — With first-grade pupils the 
teaching of penmanship is largely a matter of physical train- 
ing, because the chief difficulty in the way of the child is his 



10' 






HANDWRITING 6^1 

lack of power to control and co-ordinate his muscles.* While 
form, freedom, and control must all be taught at the same 
time, in the primary grades greater emphasis should be placed 
upon correct position and pen-holding, with freedom of move- 
ment, than upon excellence of letter formation; although the 
teacher should not be too insistent upon a uniform standard 
of position. / Children are no more alike physically than they 
are mentally, and within well-defined limits each child should 
be allowed to discover for himself the natural position of his 
body and the easiest way of holding his pencil. Good letter 
formation must not be expected until the pupil has acquired 
muscular control, and control comes only with long and 
patient practice. The primary teacher should not be too 
critical of the children's efforts, and should never criticise 
without encouraging and showing the way out of the diffi- 
culty. 

II. Outline by Grades 

iB Grade. — The first step in the work with beginners is 
to teach them to follow directions, and to gain free use of the 
arm. This may be accompHshed most easily by use of the 
blackboard. 

I. Divide the board into spaces, using lines which have 
the slant you wish the pupils to acquire. 




2. Place in each space an ellipse, the long diameter of 
which measures three or four inches. 

3. Have pupils stand about a foot from the blackboard, 
facing it squarely. 

4. Let them begin at the top of the ellipse and trace it to 
the teacher's count: i, 2, 3, 4, etc., using the direct move- 

* See Freeman, "The Psychology of the Common Branches," chap. II. 



68 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

ment, that is, the direction in which O is made. This is the 
time to begin insisting that they keep with the count. Move- 
ment exercises are useless unless they result in the freedom 
and control necessary for following the count. The crayon 
in use should be short enough to allow one end to rest in the 
palm of the hand. 

Another similar scheme for beginners has been worked 
out successfully, as follows: The teacher places upon the 
blackboard ten horizontal lines, three inches apart, which 
are to be used for illustrating written work and for exercises. 
Each child is allowed twenty-two inches, measured hori- 
zontally, of the three-inch spacing, placed at a height within 
his reach. The following diagram illustrates the develop- 
ment of the scheme: 



V\ fi 



This device is to get the forward slant. No. i shows how 
the ellipse is started. No. 2 is developed from No. i. No. 
3 is made without letting the hand stop. Count i, 2, 3 — 
4, 5, 6 — 7, 8, 9; then tap three times with the arm moving 
continuously, and then begin to count i, 2, 3, etc. The 
children, at the count i, touch the board, and at the begin- 
ning of No. 3 lift the crayon, but do not 
cease moving the arm. 

5. A Httle later the push-pull exercises 
may be used in the same manner. 

6. Finally, practise the compact elHpse, imitating the 
copy set. 

7. When the pupils have become fairly proficient in the 
exercises, let them trace, and then write, easy words, such as 
on, one, none, etc. 

In this work, be sure that each pupil begins in the right 
place and moves in the right direction around each letter. 
Remember that exact form is not expected at this stage. 



// / 



HANDWRITING 69 

8. After pupils have gained some proficiency in black- 
board writing, plain paper, and large, soft lead-pencils may 
be given them, and the same method of teaching followed as 
at the blackboard. 

9. The child should learn to write his name and small 
words early in the year. 

10. Position and pencil-holding must be taught. Pupils 
should sit with their feet flat on the floor, backs straight, 
heads up, and both arms resting easily on the desk and bent 
at nearly right angles. The left hand should hold the paper. 




The proper position for the pencil is between the right thumb 
and forefinger, crossing the second finger on the inside about 
opposite the first joint. The thumb-joint should be bent 
outward with the tip of the thumb (not the ball) resting on 
the pencil. The end of the forefinger should be about an 
inch from the point of the pencil. All fingers should be held 
closely together and the hand well closed. The hand may be 
turned a little to the side in finger writing, but not very much. 

Talk about keeping the thumb shorter than the forefinger, 
rather than about keeping the forefinger straight, and sug- 
gest that the end of the thumb be kept as close to the paper 
as possible. The pencil should cross the hand near the 
knuckle-joint, as this gives a good angle and helps prevent 
gripping. 

All writing during this half-year should be very large (an 
inch, or more, for the height of minimum letters). Large 
writing will be done by the large muscles of the arm rather 
than by the less developed finger-muscles, without any par- 
ticular direction from the teacher. 

lA Grade. — Continue blackboard work. Require large 
writing, and still allow pencils to be held quite vertically, as 



70 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

this assists in overcoming gripping. The wrist should be 
slightly raised from the desk, which should be touched only 
by the elbow and the third and fourth fingers. Use the 
compact ellipse, and have it made lightly and rather rapidly. 
Write longer and more difficult words. 

The paper in use should be ruled in five-eighths-inch spac- 
ing, so that minimum letters may be made one space high, 
and others two spaces. This will make the writing even and 
teach the relative height of letters. Pupils should first trace 
a copy set by the teacher, then copy it below while the teacher 
names the letters, as: n-o-o-n. This device will keep the 
class together and result in their writing at the proper speed. 

2B Grade. — Reduce the size of the writing a little by using 
paper ruled in three-eighths-inch spacing, instead of five- 
eighths-inch, as in I A, but still make minimum letters one 
space high, and tall letters and capitals two spaces high. Do 
more work on paper in this grade, and less on the blackboard. 
Ordinary lead-pencils may now be given pupils. 

Begin teaching the small letters by count to get a more 
exact form. There are many good ways to count for the 
different letters, but in this grade the directions given should 
be as definite and detailed as possible, impressing the chil- 
dren's minds with exactly what is to be done. In teach- 
ing i, for instance, the count may be — ''up curve, down 
straight, up curve, dot." For u, "up curve, down straight, 
up curve," etc. To make this exercise of any value, the class 
must keep with the count. Rhythm helps. Never let the 
writing drag. Make words from the letters taught, and have 
pupils write them as you name the letters. Watch position 
and pencil-holding. Make sentences, using words you have 
taught, and letting the pupils write as you name the words. 

2 A Grade. — Continue as in 2B, making only one change. 
Use paper ruled in five-eighths-inch spacing, and make the 
minimum letters half a space high, and others a whole space 
high, excepting /, d, and p, which are a Kttle shorter. Board 
work and seat work may be alternated by days. 



HANDWRITING 7 1 

3B Grade. — Introduce ink and pens. Reduce the size 
of the writing a trifle by using paper ruled in three-eighths- 
inch spacing instead of five-eighths-inch, as in 2A. See to 
it that the children's writing is not too slow, too small, nor 
too heavy. Arm-movement work is not emphasized in this 
grade because the position exacted creates arm movement 
unconsciously, and if the teacher's work has been well done 
in the previous grades, many third-grade pupils will use it 
naturally. Review the small letters by count, and begin 
teaching the capitals, using the proper count for each one. 

3A Grade. — Complete the teaching of capitals and take 
up words and sentences. Use the same methods as in Grade 
2. Give much attention to position and pen-holding. It 
should be nearly perfect in this grade. In adjusting the pen- 
holder, the palm of the hand should be held directly over 
the paper, and the fingers should be turned under to give a 
good position for easy writing. The size of the writing should 
be one-third of a space for minimum letters, and not quite a 
space for the tall ones. By the end of this year's work the 
pupil should have acquired good form, correct position and 
pen-holding, and fair control and freedom. 

4B Grade. — ^At this point emphasize movement exercises. 
In all movement writing, the arm should rest upon the thick 
muscles just below the elbow, and the hand should move on 
the nails of the third and fourth fingers. The hand should 
be held squarely palm down, and the wrist must not touch the 
desk. In this position the penholder, which is held just as 
the pencil position is described in iB, will point toward the 
right shoulder. 

In beginning movement work, have the pupils take a good 
sitting position with both arms resting equally on the desk 
(as described above) and bent at nearly right angles. Ask 
them to close their right hands. Now the arm rests on the 
muscles of the forearm, and the hand and wrist are free from 
the desk. In this position, have the pupils make the arm go 
in and out of the sleeve rapidly, at the rate of about 160 



72 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

counts per minute. Count i, 2, 3; i, 2, 3; or, better, use 
a Victrola if one is at hand. Use a light, rhythmic tone in 
counting. Rhythm is of very great importance, as Freeman 
finds in his studies.^ The speed should be 3 counts per 
second, 15 counts in 5 seconds. Use a watch until this speed 
has become habitual. It is important that all muscles be 
relaxed while doing movement writing. The movements 
for the retraced ellipse, both direct and indirect, should be 
practised in the same manner. When the exercises have 
been done properly, words may be taught. The following 
is an easy way to pass from exercises to words: 

ooa a_^ 

Use the Victrola or the rhythmic count. Keep to a speed 
of 160 down strokes per minute, since smooth lines cannot be 
obtained at too slow speed, and good form cannot be main- 
tained at too great speed. 

4 A Grade. — Continue the compact ellipse and the push- 
pull exercises. To form a free swing for word and sentence 
writing, the small e may be used in the form of an exercise, 
as follows: 



The speed of the gliding '^e" exercise should be the same as 
for the ellipse. When pupils can write words of minimum 
letters, introduce words having one tall letter, such as ''lame," 
and, later, words having more than one tall letter. The letters 
may be named, as 1-a-m-e, as the children write, but they 
should be named fast enough to get the rate of at least 160 
counts per minute. 

During the last two months of this year, require pupils 
to write their spelling words with the arm movement. Al- 
though in the spelling lesson the letters cannot be named, 
the teacher may count i, 2, 3, etc. (a letter being made on 

1 "The Teaching of Handwriting." 



HANDWRITING 73 

each count), if necessary to keep up speed. Do not drag. 
Correct position and movement are of more importance in 
this grade than exact form. If any pupils wish to do all 
their written work with the arm movement, they should not 
be discouraged. 

5th Grade. — Require occasional board work here, as in 
all grades. The application of movement writing to all 
school work should be begun in this grade. It is impracticable 
before this because of lack of physical development and 
necessary control, especially in the case of the boys. The 
free glide and movement is developed very rapid^ from this 
point. The same exercises are used here as in Grade 4, 



/•? J 4Sb 7tt etc 



with the addition of the two-space retraced direct oval. The 
pen should begin moving before making the form, starting 
the path for the exercise, then touching the paper and re- 
tracing until the count 9 is reached, when it is lifted and kept 
moving until the count is begun and the previous exercise 
repeated. 

6th, 7th, and 8th Grades. — Continue the exercises on paper 
— especially the direct compact ellipse, two spaces high — 
and have occasional board work. Review all capitals and 
small letters to get exact forms. Use the same methods as 
in the lower grades and drill on words and sentences from a 
copy. Use dictation freely. 

Drill on figures should be used in all grades. Remember 
that the speed must not change. Too low a speed spoils 
freedom and ease of movement, and too high a speed spoils 
form. Insist in these grades upon the things emphasized 
during all previous years, good position of the body, of feet, 
and of paper, proper pen-holding and arm movement. The 
essentials, like the speed, do not change. 



74 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

III. Standard Tests 

Function. — The teacher must keep clearly in mind the 
function of the standard test, such as the Ayres quality scale 
and the Freeman speed scale. It should be used solely as a 
measure of the increase in power of the class and the indi- 
vidual, not as an arbitrary standard imposing mechanical 
methods of teaching. Properly applied, it reveals the strong 
points as well as the weaknesses in existing methods, and 
furnishes a stimulus to both class and teacher which in itself 
makes for increased efficiency. 

Use of Standard Tests. — Under existing circumstances the 
standard test for penmanship should be used for but two 
purposes: first, to make plain the actual conditions in the 
classroom; second, to show whether the methods in use are 
producing a steady improvement or whether time is being 
wasted. Efficiency is possible only when the teacher knows 
these two factors so clearly that she is able to make definite 
demands upon her pupils. 

Improvement in the penmanship of a class depends en- 
tirely on the pupils themselves, but progress is certain when 
the daily practice has back of it a clear-cut resolve to improve 
the quality of the writing of the previous day, and the knowl- 
edge of how to do it. Aimless drill produces little or no im- 
provement. It may tend to actual deterioration, because a 
bad habit may become firmly fixed. 

During the past few years standard measurements have 
been developed in several subjects of the elementary school 
curriculum, but none is easier of application than that for 
penmanship. In measuring the quality of writing by the 
standard scale, Httle opportunity is afforded for individual 
opinion. The question is simply one of putting a specimen 
of penmanship beside the one most like it in the scale em- 
ployed. 

Standard Scales. — Of the standard scales which have 
been published, that of Doctor E. L. Thorndike in the Teach- 



HANDWRITING 



75 



ers College Record, of March, 1910, and the monograph, ''A 
Scale for Measuring the Quality of Handwriting of School 





Standard Score Card for the Measurement of 

PREPARED BY PROFESSOR C. T. GRAY, UNIVERSITY 


Handwriting 

OF TEXAS 




1. 


Sample 
HeaTinesa- ,^ _3 




1 


2 I 


} 


.... 


> ( 


' 




3 i 


IC 


1] 


IS 


IS 


u 


15 


2. 


Slant >_ ^ 
































3. 


Unlforaiity 
Mixed 

SiTO ._ jZ 
































4. 


Uniforanity 
Too large 
Too small 
Alignment __^ ^ 
































B. 


Spacing oflines a 
































e. 


Uniformity 
Too close 
Too far apart 
Spacing of words 11 
































7. 


Uniformity 
Too close 
Too far apart 

Spacing of letteua 18. 
































8. 


Uniformity 
Too close 
Too far apart 

Neatneaa „ 13. 
































9. 


Blotches 
Carelessness 

FoEmation of letters- (261 

General form. 8. 


































































.Smoothness jB_ 


































letters not closed 3 


































Parts omitted A. 




























- 






Parts added 2_ 

TOTAL SCORE 
































_ 













— 


— 


_ 




— 


— 


— 






— 



(See bulletin on handwriting, Univ. of Texas, Austin, Texas.) 

Children,'' by Doctor Leonard P. Ayres, of the Russell Sage 
Foundation, are the most noteworthy. They differ slightly 
in the methods by which the different specimens were selected, 



76 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

but in both cases they represent the consensus of a large 
number of individual judgments. Each is made up of twenty 
specimens of penmanship, graded from 20 to 100. Theo- 
retically these are separated by equal intervals, i. e., the 
variation in quality between 20 and 30 is exactly the same 
as the variation between 80 and 90, or between any other 
two specimens of the scale. Herein lies one of the advantages 
of grading papers by such a method rather than according 
to the judgment of the teacher. When a teacher marks a 
set of papers in per cents, the difference in quality be- 
tween 40 and 50 per cent is almost never the same as the 
variation between 90 and 100 per cent. In the case of the 
scale the standard is fixed: with per cents it constantly 
varies. Be sure to get the latest revised edition. 

What Scale to Use. — In the judgment of the writer, 
neither of the two published quality scales is practicable for 
general use. The variation in the style of writing in differ- 
ent communities is sufficient to make comparison with them 
a slow and tedious process. They are, however, invaluable to 
a teacher who wishes to develop a scale of her own, made up 
of specimens of the style of writing used by her class. 

For such a purpose, hundreds of papers representing the 
best writing of the pupils should be collected. Comparing 
them individually with one of these two standard scales di- 
vides them roughly into groups, each group being made up of 
all the papers which resemble the same specimen in the scale. 
The next step is to compare the papers of each group with 
its corresponding specimen, eliminating one after another 
imtil only the paper most Hke the type is left. Repeated 
with group after group, this finally gives specimens separated 
by approximately equal intervals and exactly corresponding in 
number to the steps of the first scale, but with the advantage 
of being in the style of writing used by the class, since it has 
been made up from their own work. If the final selection is 
approved by two or three examiners, the resulting scale will 
be even more accurate. 



HANDWRITING 77 

How Used. — The selected specimens should be fastened 
on a large sheet of paper or cardboard, or spread out on a 
desk in the order of their merit. The paper to be rated is 
then moved along the scale until it rests beside the specimen 
it most resembles, when it is given the corresponding mark. 
This is the rating of the individual pupil. The average of 
such ratings will represent the standing of the class. The 
median is more exact than the average, but the method of 
obtaining it is a little more complicated. As the name indi- 
cates, it is the paper so selected that the number of papers 
which surpass it in quality equals the number of papers of 
poorer quality. In rating papers in this way there is but 
one important factor, constancy of judgment, and it is reason- 
ably certain that this will be attained if the ratings at succes- 
sive times are made by the same person. Since the im- 
portant consideration is that the class shall improve, rather 
than that it shall reach some arbitrary rank, it makes no essen- 
tial difference whether the judge is severe or lenient. Degree 
of improvement is measured equally whether a severe judge 
gives the initial and final ratings as 10-13, or a more lenient 
one as 12-15. The only variation will be in the absolute 
standard reached. 

The writer is fully convinced that if pupils are given ac- 
cess to the standard scale they will rate their own papers with 
a degree of accuracy sufficient for all practical purposes. If a 
pupil judges himself leniently both at the initial and final com- 
parison and makes an improvement represented by an inter- 
val of the scale, he is no better off than the pupil who judges 
himself severely and makes the same degree of improvement, 
since the goal is gain in power, not the attainment of a fixed 
rank. As a matter of actual experience two, or even three, 
judges are in practical harmony so far as class averages are 
concerned. The reason for this agreement is evident. The 
majority of the papers plainly fall into their proper position 
on the scale: the only difficulty occurs with those coming on 
the border-line. By the law of probabilities, if a judge throws 



78 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

one of these border-line papers into the lower group ,^ he is 
likely to place another border-line paper in the higher group. 
This brings his average into exact agreement with the second 

80 (2^ Jl (>h<iyl^<rt?0 f^YT^ 

Samples of Children's Handwriting Rated as Qualities 20 to 90 bv 
Measuring Scale 

judge, who perhaps reverses the distribution. It is not a 
matter of theory: the facts prove beyond dispute that the 
averages are reasonably constant. 

What Quality to Expect. — In Doctor Ayres's original 
scale 18,000 specimens were employed, taken from grades 



HANDWRITING 



79 



5 to 8 in forty different cities. The average quality was 
found to be 50 per cent. In his survey of Springfield, 111., with 
2,359 papers from the same grades, rated by different judges 
from those employed in developing the original scale, the 
average quaHty was found to be 49.3 per cent. This is indi- 
cated by the specimen marked 50 in the series of graded 
specimens on preceding page, reproduced by permission from 
Doctor Ayres's report of the Springfield survey. 

That quality 50 represents approximately the initial stand- 
ard of writing which may be expected from grammar school 
children finds striking corroboration from the writer's own 
experience in Elmira, N. Y. In that city 2,486 specimens of 
writing were collected and rated in the office of the superin- 
tendent. The average quality of these papers was 60. The 
variation between this figure and that given by Doctor Ayres 
is due to the fact that a scale for measuring handwriting had 
been used in Elmira for two years, and had radically improved 
the quality of the penmanship. This difference furnishes the 
best argument for the value of a standard scale to any school 
system. 

IV. Results of the Standard Tests 





REASONABLE HANDWRITING 


STANDARDS 






Grades 


I 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


Speed! 


20 


31 


38 


47 


57 


65 


75 


83 




Quality* 


6.5 


7-5 


8.2 


8.7 


9-3 


9.8 


10.4 


10.9 




Quality* . 




27 


33 


37 


43 


53 


57 


65 





1 Letters written per minute. ^ Quality as measured by the Thomdike scale. 

'Quality as measured by the Ayres scale. 

Doctor Starch, in his book on "Educational Measurements" — gives a slide-rule de- 
vice for getting a combined mark for both speed and quaUty. 

Any method must be judged by its results. If the use of 
the standard test in penmanship will produce a radical im- 
provement in the quality of the writing of school children, it 
is worth while. Its effect on a normal seventh grade appears 
in the following chart: 



IMPROVEMENTS IN QUALITY OF HANDWRITING 

MADE BY A SEVENTH GRADE CLASS 

FROM OCTOBER TO JUNE 



BOYS 



GIRLS 



, pm^^^^^M^^ 



13 



2 
3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 



WMMMM^ 



i 



10 



2^^^^^i 



WL 



12 



1 



13 



^ 



10 



12 



Mjjgj 



13 



10 



15 



15 



15 









15 



^^^^^i^ 



i 



14 



^8 

^^11 



w///yy//^^^^^^^^ 



i 



15 



ii 
M 



|#%M#% 



Mi 

i 



■ 



10 



i 



15 



i 



13 



10 



14 



^12 



* This boy showed no improvement. 
8o 



HANDWRITING 



8l 



The figures at the left represent the numbering of the 
boys and girls in the class. At the right, the upper figure 
indicates the quahty of each pupil's writing in September, 
while the lower figure shows the same fact for the following 
May. In the scale employed, the standard specimens were 
graded from i to 20, so the figures as given on the chart 
should be multiplied by 5 if they are to be reduced to the 
same basis as that employed in the scale by Doctor Ayres. 

That a similar improvement may be expected for the en- 
tire school system is indicated by the following table giving 
a comparison of the quality of writing of the grammar school 
grades in September with that found in the following June: 



CITY 


GRADES 1 


Elmira, N. Y 


V 


VI 


vn 


vm 1 


Sept. 


June 


Sept. 


June 


Sept. 


June 


Sept. 


June 


9 

8.7 


13 
12.2 


12 
9.4 


13 
13 -I 


II 
9.5 


14 
13 


12 
9.9 


14 
14 


Montclair, N.J 



These experiences with the standard test in penmanship 
have convinced the writer that it affords an instrument so 
simple and effective that every teacher not only may, but 
ought to, know definitely the quality and progress of the 
work being accomplished by her own pupils.^ Freeman's 
proposed standards of achievement for the various grades in 
quality according to the Ayres scale and in speed according 
to the letters written a minute are given on page 99. The 
children are asked to write some simple sentence such as 
" Mary had a little lamb " for exactly three minutes. The 
number of letters per minute and the quality can then both 
be ascertained for each sample. 



^ The Ayres scale may be obtained for five cents from the Sage Foundation, 
New York City, or the Thomdike scale from Teachers College, Columbia, in 
the same city, at the same price. Doctor Ayres has also prepared a scale for 
measuring adult handwriting. 



82 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

SCALE A 

A SCALE FOR HANDWRITING OF CHILDREN 
IN GRADES 5 TO 8» 

The unit of the scale equals approximately one tenth of the differ- 
ence between the best and worst of the formal writings of 1000 chil- 
dren in grades 5-8. The difiFerences 16-15, 15-14, 14-13, etc., represent 
equal fractions of the combined mental scale of merit of from 23 to 
55 competent judges. 

Quality i8. Sample 125 

j^/fuouMxL iLat thi, aaaI' ayrixt pxZt of Uu. tidiUi 
tAs, aM/ocLctixyyv of tAz. /rruoxrrb cunrut ^^Ajyn, up/yi% 

Quality 17. Sample 141 
Quality 16. Samples 32 and 84 

Quality 15. Samples 49 and 89 
* These samples are reduced one half from the Thoradike scalfe 



HANDWRITING 83 

Quality 15. (Continued.) Samples 47 and 90 

a.^v-wcL -^%JjUL o-L^ou rw-^nxaXH gv4UX< 



Quality 14. Samples 54 and 19 



Quality 13. Samples 55, 24, and 26 



84 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Quality 13. (Continued.) Sample 4 

\AxLcrU/(XAAJU}nj6 •CCLAAAX\ya^ Ouo-uit 
Quality 12. Sample 30 

AyicJk^tui .'Vvi/^ Q4<tA/VUyCij C-ciAMXOa.^ coy\/}LyyuAcC 9"'^ C^ 

Quality 12. Samples 7 and 52 

JJ ^^AAJyut -Ant 

Quality II. Samples 23 and 45 






HANDWRITING 85 

Quality 11. (Continued.) Sample 106 

Quality 9. Samples 31, 21, and 28 

old IcuM^ <^n t-^c' owv^ . (^UinAi um^ Aj\^LLj 

Quality 8. Samples 14 and 48 
^^■^■NTuLiixi. «iiUr»-\.4 <JUwvv '«^-->' AruJXH^UJVjj^. cf?^J^ 



86 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



Quality 7. Sample 125 
Quality 6. Sample 12 

Quality 5. Sample 6 
Quality 4. Sample 121 



HANDWRITING 



87 



V. What System to Use 

At the present time there is no conclusive evidence as to 
what constitutes the one best style of writing. At times the 
controversy among the advocates of vertical penmanship 
and those who favored the extreme slant, or the medium slant, 
has waxed warm. All are agreed that a good system of 
penmanship must be legible and must enable the writer to 
execute it at a reasonable speed and without undue fatigue. 
Which system will secure these desirable results is a disputed 
question. The study made by Doctor Ayres throws some 
light on this question, but he would be one of the first to declare 
that further investigation is needed before it is safe to ac- 
cept his conclusions as final. He found but little difference 
in the speed actually developed by pupils in using the different 
systems of penmanship. His results are reproduced in the 
following table: 



System Tested. 


No. samples 


Av. No. words 
written in 
ten minutes 


Vertical 


255 
670 

46 
27 


115-3 
1 14. 6 
116. 1 
109.3 

lOI.O 


Medium slant 






Backhand 


Totals 


1,578 


III. 3 





It is probable that the pronounced opposition of the 
business world will prevent vertical penmanship from ever 
being taught in the pubHc schools. The writer's conviction 
is that the semi-slant represents the style of penmanship 
most satisfactory for use in the schools when everything is 
taken into consideration. 

VI. Motivation 

While the standard scale furnishes incidental motivation, 
there are many attractive combinations of the push-pull ex- 



88 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

ercises and spirals which arouse the children's interest, and 
should be introduced as soon as a reasonable degree of free- 
dom has been attained. The pupils should be allowed to 
exercise their own creative ability after a good example of 
possible combinations suited to their power has been pre- 
sented to them. The use of colored inks results in reaHstic 
butterflies, flowers, fans, quaint costumes, turkeys, log cabins, 
and automobiles, and gives the children delightful practice 
instead of tiresome tasks.^ 

SUMMARY 

1. Good handwriting should be a habit, not an attainment. 

2. The teacher should be able to illustrate concretely the skill she 

wishes to secure from the pupils. 

3. Let first-grade teaching be largely a matter of physical training. 

4. Beginners should work entirely at the blackboard until some de- 

gree of freedom and muscular control has been secured. 

5. Below the fifth grade correct position and movement are of more 

importance than correct form. 

6. Correlation should begin with the fifth grade if the proper founda- 

tion has been laid in the lower grades. 

7. The standard test applied to penmanship furnishes a powerful 

incentive to teacher and pupils. 

8. A home-made scale based on the Ayres scale is the most practical 

for average classroom use. The Freeman standards of speed 
may be used with it. 

9. Pupils reaching a certain standard on their written school work 

should not be required to continue penmanship as a regular 
class exercise. 
10. Motivate wherever possible for the great amount of practice 
necessary to secure freedom with legibility and reasonable 
speed. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

The problems presented in the teaching of handwriting naturally 
group themselves about the relation between speed and legibility and 
the best methods of securing power and freedom. Interesting inves- 
tigation may be made by the teacher of the following topics: 

^ See Wilson's "Motivation of School Work," chap. X. 



HANDWRITING 89 

1. Whether a pupil who writes slowly is apt to be a superior writer. 

2. Is a rapid writer more likely to be a poor writer? 

3. If in teaching penmanship emphasis is laid upon speed, is it apt to 

be at the expense of form ? 

4. Does emphasis upon form mean a sacrifice of speed ? 

5. The effect of rhythm upon both speed and form may be studied 

by taking samples of children's writing and the amount written 
within a given time, before and after several months' training, 
using Victrola or rhythmic counting. 

6. The relative fatigue resulting from rapid and slow writing which 

would determine where the most emphasis in training should 
be placed. 

7. The probable number of pupils who will have most or all of their 

important writing done by a typewriter in later years. 

8. The quality of writing, according to a scale, which business men 

and other persons in the community consider minimum. 

9. What methods work best in getting pupils to do their best, rapid, 

and accurate writing in all class exercises ? 

10. Post the Thorndike and the Ayres scales for measuring children's 

handwriting on the wall where pupils can measure their own 
writing and encourage them to do so. Another method is to 
place a scale under a large pane of glass on a table, or to frame 
the scale. 

11. If the principal writing that pupils will do is in the form of cor- 

respondence, how much of handwriting and composition should 
be letter writing ? 

There are broader problems for investigating which could be car- 
ried on in the same school system or among different systems, which 
would determine the relative value of different methods of instruction 
as advocated by leading penmanship supervisors, but these do not 
come within the province of the individual teacher. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Ayres, Leonard — "Handwriting Scale." (Russell Sage Founda- 

tion Bulletin 113.) 

2. Charters, W. W. — "Teaching the Common Branches," chap. II. 

Houghton Mifflin Co. 

3. Clark, A. W.— "PubHc School Penmanship." Ginn & Co. 

4. Freeman, F. N. — "The Teaching of Handwriting." See also his 

chart for diagnosing defects in handwriting. Houghton, 
Mifflin Co. 



90 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

5. Freeman, F. N. — "The Psychology of the Common Branches." 

6. Gray — University of Texas Bulletin, Austin, Tex. 

7. Kendall and Mirick — "How to Teach the Fundamental Sub- 

jects," pp. 145-163. Houghton Mifflin Co. 

8. King, Irving, and Johnson, Harry — "Writing Abilities of Chil- 

dren." {J ournal of Educational Psychology, November, 1912.) 

9. "The Fourteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study 

of Education." Part I, chap. V, also the "Sixteenth Yearbook," 
Part I, chap. IV, both by Professor F. N. Freeman. Public 
School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

10. Judd, C. H. — "Measuring the Work of the Public Schools." 

(Russell Sage Foundation.) 

11. Starch, D. — "Educational Measurements." Macmillan Co. 

12. Thompson, Mary E. — "Psychology and Pedagogy of Writing." 

Warwick & York. 

13. Thorndike, E. L. — "Handwriting Scale." {Teachers College Rec- 

ord, vol. II, No. 2.) 

14. Wilson, G. M. — "Handwriting of School Children." {Elementary 

School Teacher, June, 191 1.) 

15. See also his report on needed eliminations from the ele- 
mentary school curriculum. Professor G. M. Wilson, Ames, 
Iowa (free). 



CHAPTER IV 

COMPOSITION 

Preliminary Problems 

1. Why do many teachers regard composition as a study suitable 

only for the higher grades of the school ? 

2. What are the chief values of composition? 

3. What are the typical social situations demanding communication 

of ideas in speech or in writing? 

4. What should a particular individual speak or write about ? 

5. How does a trained writer proceed with the revision of a manu- 

script before submitting it for publication? Why should chil- 
dren proceed in substantially the same way ? 

6. Why should children be permitted to read their compositions to 

their classmates? 

7. As a topic in a course of study, which is better: "Exposition," or 

"How to make people understand you"? 

8. What objection is there to beginning a composition exercise with 

the study of a classical "model"? 

9. What should be included in elementary composition — grammar? 

10. What is the purpose of a composition "scale"? 

11. Since composition is a part of all studies, why have special classes 

in it? 

12. Why have vocational topics proved useful in composition work? 

I. The Nature and Value of Composition as 
A Subject 

Composition, Not Language. — There is a great deal in a 
name. The growing tendency to employ the word composi- 
tion to designate certain elementary school activities should 
be encouraged. The word is to be preferred to ''English" 
or "language," because it is more precise and more sugges- 
tive than either. ''English" has fairly established itself as 
the inclusive term for all school studies in which the mastery 
of the vernacular for either practical or esthetic uses is the 

91 



92 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

chief end. Like science, it serves to denominate several re- 
lated subjects, as, for example, reading, literature, and oral 
and written expression. ''Language," on the other hand, 
calls to mind the external forms of speech and writing. The 
word suggests inflection, punctuation, the use of capital 
letters, the choice of synonyms, etc. It has for many also 
the associations developed by contact with those nondescript 
collections of facts, pictures, poems, blanks to fill, dictations 
to write, passages to copy, and stories to reproduce which 
have, for a generation, been supplied to children in the last 
four or five years of the elementary school as text-books in 
''language" or "English." It is high time for a change both 
of material and of name. 

The new name should be composition. This name should 
be consciously and definitely applied, not alone to the prepa- 
ration of written papers in the higher grammar grades, but 
to certain activities in all grades. Even primary teachers, 
who have been all the while inducing and guiding composi- 
tional activities, should have no scruples about employing the 
term. 

That they do have such scruples was recently demon- 
strated. In a system of schools employing over a hundred 
teachers, "round tables" for the discussion of the various 
elementary school subjects were announced, among them a 
round table on composition. To this round table not a 
single primary teacher came. Inquiry disclosed the fact that 
these teachers understood the term as applying only to the 
writing of "themes" in the upper grades. 

What Composition Is. — As has been hinted above, com- 
position is a fundamental activity, not confined to any grade 
or stage of learning, nor even to the school. It is primarily 
a mental process, and only secondarily a matter of speaking 
or writing. It is in part identical with thinking, and with 
much of what is properly called study. It is analogous to 
house-building, cabinetmaking, landscape-gardening, and all 
other arts, industrial or fine. Like these arts, it involves the 



COMPOSITION 93 

development and organization of ideas, and the giving to them 
of an appropriate, an effective form of expression. It is, 
then, first of all a process; afterward a product. It is prac- 
tised by every normal human being of every age, except that 
of earliest infancy; and, while capable of being reduced to 
formal rules and laws, it is learned chiefly by imitation and 
is in large measure a matter of habit, not of consciously 
directed effort. It involves the use of language, and hence 
is hindered or helped, as the case may be, by the degree of 
mastery of vocabulary, sentence idiom, and other units of 
form which the individual has attained. It is essentially a 
social activity; men speak or write in order to communicate. 
Hence it functions only where a genuine social relationship 
exists [29 : 1-5]. 

The Value of Composition. — From the point of view of 
the elementary school, composition is primarily a means for 
the establishment of certain important habits. Among these 
may be noted the habit of observing, that is, of seeing curi- 
ously and thoughtfully. Here composition is a powerful ally 
of all other school studies. Nature study, for example, may 
tend to make children observant of certain classes of natural 
phenomena. But scientists, as everybody knows, are not 
keen to notice objects outside of the range of their special in- 
terests. Artists are equally narrow. Composition, however, 
may be made inclusive, and therefore broadening. In order 
to depict or explain you must see. 

As implied above, composition may strengthefi the ten- 
dency to reflect, to turn experiences and ideas over in the 
mind so as to perceive their meaning and relationships. This 
is seeing in the deeper sense. Not all attain to any degree 
of power in doing it, even in mature years, but the founda- 
tion of the habit may be firmly laid in composition if any- 
where — much more firmly laid than teachers generally sus- 
pect [i : 123-4]. 

The tendency to weigh and judge the value of statements 
may be promoted also [32, 33, 34]. Composition means 



94 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

selection. Among the ideas which association presents, some 
may be included, many must be rejected. Conscious choice 
imphes standards and the custom of referring to them. This 
means, in other words, that composition is logical, consistent, 
must convince, and hence must appeal as vaHd. In a word, 
it must seek to be truthful. 

More obviously the practice of composition leads to obedi- 
ence to good usage, to the choice of expressions agreeable to 
one's fellows because understood and approved by them. It 
enormously increases the possibilities of thought and feeling 
by furnishing the vehicles in which thought and feeling are 
carried. Thus life is broadened and enriched, and the possi- 
bilities of intellectual intercourse multiplied a thousandfold. 
Freedom of expression is ultimately the gauge of a man's 
education [i6a: 170-187]. 

11. Method in the Teaching of Composition 

How Method in Composition Is to Be Discovered. — The 

discussion of the teaching of composition cannot proceed 
worthily except upon the basis of the fundamental assump- 
tions which have been outlined in the preceding paragraphs. 
Method is not merely a matter of personal idiosyncrasy, but 
of rational procedure. In the nature and purpose of the sub- 
ject itself method is to be discovered. A clear view of the 
values to be realized and of the psychology of the process of 
gaining control of them will provide us with the principles in 
accordance with which details of classroom technic may be 
consistently worked out [8, 36]. 

What is the essential process of composition ? First of all, 
there must be an occasion for communication. Men speak 
when they have something to say and somebody to say it to. 
When Jennie, aged five, wishes to play with her small neigh- 
bor, she makes a convincing plea and mamma consents. 
When Ralph's baseball team wins from its rival, the boy 
gives the people at home an enthusiastic account of the vic- 
tory. The older sister falls in with her chum on the way to 



COMPOSITION 95 

school and enters into an animated conversation about plans 
for a new spring costume. Meanwhile papa discusses poli- 
tics or business with an acquaintance while journeying to the 
office, and later in the day mamma attends the club and reads 
a paper on the Irish Theatre. Evening finds all at home, 
and, more likely than not, one or more of the family occupies 
the time in writing letters to distant friends. These are some 
of the ordinary occasions for composition. Strange that the 
school should have so formalized a process which is essentially 
spontaneous, natural, and enjoyable. 

An Outline of Method — Real Composition Situations. — 
The first step in teaching composition, then, is to create, or 
seize upon, situations in which expression in speech or in 
writing is urgent and gratifying. They are numerous and 
near at hand. Everybody likes to tell about himself and his 
own experiences; everybody likes to give welcome information; 
everybody likes to entertain, to merit approval, to carry his 
point, to play a part, to add to his possessions, to reciprocate 
a favor. If only the class period is conceived of as a meet- 
ing of friends, not primarily as a formal recitation or testing 
place, real situations for composition will present themselves. 
Socialize the composition hour [9 : 26; 29 : 36]. 

This does not mean, however, unbridled license to imma- 
turity. Socializing is an active, not a passive process. The 
teacher must lead in it, not merely keep hands off. She will 
help her pupils to find both the occasion and the topic. She 
will suggest, arouse, start ideas to working, point the way to 
the raw material, discover to each his proper resources. In 
short she will neither make formal assignment of topics nor 
leave raw boys and girls, who have little conscious command 
of their powers, to grope about or stand helpless, unaware of 
their possibilities. On the contrary, she will reveal each to 
himself, for it is her business to know her children. The boy 
who sells papers, or who spends his summer on his uncle's 
sheep-ranch, or who makes a garden and sells vegetables, will 
be encouraged to transmute his unique experience into the 



g6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

gold of human speech. Likewise the girl who feels certain 
that she has nothing to say will be helped to find in her per- 
sonal interests that which it is worth while to tell about 

[31. 41]. 

Time Necessary. — But neither the boy nor the girl should 
be expected to do this without reflection. Why teachers 
should require of children what the veteran of the platform 
never undertakes will always remain a mystery. Webster 
replied to Hayne extemporaneously. He had but to reach 
up, so he declared, and seize thunderbolts to hurl at his 
opponent. But for many a month he had been forging his 
thunderbolts for just such an encounter. Given the occasion 
for speech and the fit topic upon which to discourse, there must 
follow a period of incubation, time for the idea to develop, 
to take shape, to gather to itself appropriate details. And 
these must be ordered into somewhat of system. There must 
be a plan. One idea must come first, another follow, and so 
on to an appropriate end. All of this takes time and con- 
sciously directed effort. Babbling on like Tennyson's brook 
will never accomplish it. 

Nevertheless, it cannot be done by rule. It is, as has 
been suggested above, a matter chiefly of imitation, of habit- 
uation; children learn to do it by working sympathetically 
with others who have the secret. Little by Httle they be- 
come conscious of the process, and bend the will to it. The 
primary teacher is herself orderly, systematic. Her board 
lessons have unity and coherence. Her stories proceed by 
well-defined units. Her explanations are clear and logical. 
She holds the pupils to the point, draws them back on the 
track, discourages wandering, challenges their thought, ques- 
tions them, makes them think things out, turns a deaf ear to 
fooHsh, half-baked assumptions, praises the thoughtful, the 
orderly, stimulates right intellectual activity. She lays — 
or ought to lay — the indispensable foundation. Hence she 
should know the principles of effective composition; she should 
have a clear vision of the goal toward which her proteges are 



COMPOSITION 97 

moving. Above all she should know the psychology of lan- 
guage. Otherwise how can she understand the immense im- 
portance of the informal methods by which right habits of 
thought and expression are to be established long before a 
single rule is learned [9, 18, 23, 32, 39]. 

In this is to be found the answer to the question so often 
asked : Shall I correct grammatical and other errors of speech 
at the time they are made? Generally, yes. Supply the 
correct form. Cause it to be spoken by the child in its proper 
connection. Save all those present from the influence of a 
bad example while you seek to establish the right habit in 
the offender. But do it tactfully. It is not necessary or 
desirable to upset Frank's train of thought in giving him the 
expression he needs. The teacher is his living dictionary, 
and a much better one than any printed book can be for 
many a year. 

But will the tactful correction do any good? Yes, if 
quietly persistent. It should, however, be followed up by 
language games, in which errors which are found to be 
troublesome to the whole class are practised upon. Not 
formal lessons with generalization, note, but drills, repetition, 
with attention focussed on the form and with all the zest 
which ingenuity can arouse. Let one row ask questions of 
another which will require ''I saw," ''I have seen," etc., in 
answer. Choose sides to see who can make up the most sen- 
tences involving ''were," and so on [i: 29]. 

In the first three years of school, it may almost be said, 
the composition battle is lost or won. Almost, we say, be- 
cause the work of the years to follow is indispensable. Step 
by step the learner must master the technic of the craft. 
Mere informal direction will not suffice — not for the many, 
at all events. The pupil must learn what the tools are and 
how to use them. Not apart from actual life, be it said 
again, but by employing them for purposes as real and as 
worthy as later life will ever afford. Juggling with the forms 
of language is a poor substitute for actual communication. 



98 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The time for William's account of his visit to the country is 
necessarily short. Therefore William can tell about only a 
single experience. Let him choose the breaking in of the bay 
colt. That will be interesting, especially if William puts in 
the details which will enable all to picture just what hap- 
pened. Thus he learns to narrow his subject and to treat 
it concretely. Mary is to report in the assembly on how the 
class has managed its window-boxes. What do the members 
of the class want her to tell? She puts her outline on the 
board. It is criticised. All learn how to plan a speech, 
using the standard means of ordering a body of ideas. So 
it may be with the hundreds of facts and principles which the 
children should master. The need of them arises; they are 
clearly taught through use; and afterward, being consistently 
called for and required, are fixed for all time. 

Note the importance of pubHcation in all of this. Con- 
sciousness of my audience, of what is due to them, of what 
is necessary on my part to win success, this and this only 
will lead to conscience for form. I must win the approval 
of my audience, otherwise what matter? Let the teacher 
who piously prates about correctness for its own sake consider 
herself as she would be wholly apart from social influence and 
social compulsion. Morality in vacuo may be made to ap- 
pear plausible in the abstract but nowhere exists in reahty. 
For my audience I must prepare to speak clearly and cor- 
rectly; for my reader I must write out a fair copy [30]. 

Which suggests another of the foolish practices of the 
school, namely, the demanding of perfect first drafts with- 
out time even for reflection, much less revision and sober 
second thought. What no practised writer ever does, not 
even the hectic newspaper penny-a-liner, the fledgling of 
the elementary school is expected to undertake. The bur- 
den of dealing with half-matured, wholly restrained and 
stiffened writing might have been expected to force a reform 
long ago, but tradition is powerful, and teachers have not 
been much in the habit of criticising their methods by the 



COMPOSITION 99 

light of life without the walls. Not of course that there 
should never be writing wholly spontaneous and unrevised, 
but certainly not more of it than is common with adults, 
and not under circumstances which are not readily dupK- 
cated outside of school. Let children make notes. Let 
them dash off first drafts. Let them revise their own work. 
The man who submits for publication the first-fruits of his 
brain is rare — a myth, in fact, a mere creature of supersti- 
tion. To take him for the model of the mere beginner is 
indefensible [23, 29a, 31]. 

Judgment by One's Peers. — And let the work be passed 
upon by a jury of the writer's peers. True, the teacher must 
act as judge, but she will do well to remember that it is the 
decision of the speaker's or writer's classmates which weighs. 
It is to them that he appealed. They are his society, his asso- 
ciates. Their standard cannot reasonably be thought too high. 

Moreover, the members of the class need to exercise their 
judgments. The impression of one is speedily corrected by 
that of another. Each marvels that so obvious a fact should 
have escaped his observation. There was never such a train- 
ing ground for the exercise of fairness, courtesy, tact, and the 
spirit of helpfulness. Here is opportunity for the intimate 
exercise of the duties and privileges of citizenship. 

Perhaps no method of class criticism equals in effective- 
ness that of group work at the blackboard. It begins in the 
first grades with the teacher herself at the board writing for 
the class. Later a good penman among the pupils may take 
her place, or several pupils may put their work where all can 
see. In the higher grades it is well to divide the class into 
small sections. Let one member of each section write a 
short composition which he has prepared, while the other 
members make suggestions as he goes along. The teacher 
should go about to settle moot questions and see that there is 
no lack of serious attempt. Those who have not tried it have 
no idea how effective this method is in improving the technic 
of writing [11]. 



lOO TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Summed up, the main principles of successful method in 
the teaching of composition are these: (i) Provide real situa- 
tions for oral and written expression. (2) See to it that each 
pupil finds a topic upon which he has, or can get, abundant 
information, and that he attains to a definite, specific point 
of view from which to treat that topic. (3) Allow sufficient 
time for the topic to develop in the mind of the speaker or 
writer, and make sure that the ideas take shape according 
to some workable plan. (4) Then, and then only, encourage 
the composer to clothe his theme in appropriate details of 
language and to put it before his hearers or his readers. 
(5) Depend in large measure upon the pupils themselves to 
make upon each performance the criticisms which will enable 
the individual to improve. The teacher should encourage 
where possible, and should show each how to correct and 
revise his work [i, 3, 7, 9, 18, 27, 29]. 

III. The Course of Study and Standards of 
Attainment 

The Course of Study. — Many other phases of our subject 
which are now frequently discussed remain to be touched 
upon. If, however, the doctrines set forth above are ac- 
cepted, the remaining questions may be somewhat sum- 
marily disposed of. What of the course of study ? The an- 
swer is that a course of study is a series of experiences through 
which the learner moves to the realization one by one of con- 
sciously prized values. A course in composition, then, is 
something more than a collection of facts and principles of 
language expression scattered more or less arbitrarily over a 
certain school period. In a very real sense the course in 
composition is made up of subjects to be treated rather than 
of forms of language to be learned. It is, however, neither 
alone. It is the handling of subjects of vital interest in such 
a way that step by step, as the maturing intellectual Kfe of 
the child permits it and demands it, mastery of the forms of 
expression is actually attained. At the beginning conscious 



COMPOSITION lOI 

knowledge of technic is brought very little into play. With 
the passing years this knowledge matures, but nowhere is 
it worth while to give it as pure science, as facts cherished up 
against the day of possible use. The effort to give command 
of such technic as the needs of communication actually de- 
mand will be found more than the teacher is ordinarily equal 
to [23, 32, 37]. 

How absurd it is, then, to attempt to deal with the ^' forms 
of discourse" in the grades — one might venture to add, in 
the early years of high school [17, 35]. What children need 
to learn is how to tell a clear and connected story, not how to 
state the theory of prose narrative, and how it differs from 
prose description; to make people understand or believe 
them, not to define exposition and argumentation, and to 
discourse upon the methods of carrying these on. The study 
of composition is mainly well-directed and tactfully criticised 
practice in speaking and in writing, not the reading over of 
statements of rhetorical theory derived from an examination 
of the work of successful writers [11]. 

The Use of Models. — But is not the use of models praise- 
worthy? Yes and no. Nothing so completely prevents 
originaUty and the free play of one's own ideas as first to 
read what another has written and immediately after try to 
write something similar oneself. Especially is this true if 
the writer of the "model" is a master, and has treated the 
subject in a manner far beyond the present powers of the 
learner. It is far better frankly to attempt to reproduce 
what one can remember of such a model than to pretend to 
imitate it [13, 29]. 

There is, however, a legitimate and important use for ex- 
amples of good writing in the elementary course in com- 
position. The study of the ''model" should follow, not pre- 
cede, the attempt of the learner. Once he has his own ideas 
collected and expressed, the reading or hearing of the words 
of another will but lead to revision and improvement, not to 
paralysis, of individual effort. The model, moreover, should 



I02 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

not be too far beyond the present powers of the pupils. For 
most of the class the work of the leaders of it will suffice as 
stimulus and example. For the sake of the leaders, however, 
there should be provided also specimens of the work of some- 
what more mature writers, preferably that of other students 
or of the teacher, and these models should be used merely 
to suggest larger and better possibilities of method and treat- 
ment rather than details of technic. Imitation of style is 
only for the specialist. Until the text-books provide them, 
teachers should be enabled to have pieces of good work 
dupHcated at will, in a form to be placed in permanent books 
kept by the pupils. 

Such examples may be chosen partly to serve the pur- 
pose of dictation. The danger in this exercise is, however, 
that it will become entirely perfunctory, a time-killer. Dic- 
tation is valuable mainly for drill, and hence should be em- 
ployed only when there is a particular fact or usage to be 
drilled upon. The pupils should know exactly what this is, 
and should study the example carefully with this in mind 
before it is read to them. They should then pass judgment 
upon their own work to determine the degree to which they 
have mastered the form or principle, and the drill should 
proceed just so long as it is actually seen to be needed and 
no longer. 

Correlation with Literature. — These examples, it will be 
seen at once, are not to be mainly ^'hterary." It is a pretty 
sentiment, now much cherished, that the study of poetry is 
the chief means by which children are to acquire the power 
of oral and written expression. One is in danger, no doubt, 
of appearing ungracious to attack so sweet a dogma, but a 
moment's reflection will make it clear that, Wordsworth to 
the contrary, the language of poetry is not the language of 
common life, however poetical the language of common hfe 
may be. Literature, except for the homely folk-tales and 
fables of the earliest years, and the prose hero-tales of the 
middle grades, is at best an indirect means of language tF^-in- 




A great opportunity for oral coni[JO;,lLion work in an open-air kinJcrgarLcii 
of Sacramento, Cal. 




English in any school of foreign children is a big problem. A school built 
of concrete in the Philippines 



COMPOSITION 103 

ing, and should be permitted to occupy its own place on the 
program, as geography does. The time of the a/mposi- 
tion hour is needed for such activities as have been described 
above. Once the teaching of composition and the teaching 
of literature are merged, there follows, almost inevitably, 
neglect of practical training and dependence upon a vague 
influence which is never tested or measured, and which has 
far less value in every-day expression than is commonly 
ascribed to it. Literature must not be substituted for com- 
position merely because teachers find it more to their taste 
or can arouse greater enthusiasm by means of it. Let the 
example of the quack who threw all of his patients into fits 
because he was death on fits suffice as a solemn warning. 

The Place of Grammar. — This same example might well 
be cited also to those who persist in parsing and diagramming. 
From what has already been said, it must be evident that the 
present writer, has no faith in formal Enghsh grammar as an 
isolated science to be studied by children. The investiga- 
tions which have been made throw the gravest doubt upon 
all the claims which have been set up for formal giammar as 
an elementary school subject [24], The fact seems to be that 
the principles of grammar, like the principles of rKetoric, are 
of value only as pupils grow up to and into them through 
their own experience. Good speaking and writing obeys 
standard grammatical usage; there can be no doubt about 
that. The only question is: In what way can boys and 
girls be most effectively aided in attaining to grammatical 
correctness in their speaking and writing? 

The answer seems to be: Neither by ignoring grammar 
nor by apotheosizing it. Just as in the case of rhetoric, the 
beginnings are made through informal correction of errors 
and the setting of a good example. Standard terms, not 
baby talk, should always be employed. If this is done, gram- 
matical concepts will gradually define themselves in a purely 
objective way, as other concepts do. A child does not wait 
until he may take up the study of cabinetmaking and master 



I04 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

a formal definition to learn what a chair is. ''Sentence," 
"subject," "predicate," "noun," "verb," "conjunction," 
"modifiers," and many other grammatical ideas should come 
to him in the same way. And when he does take up formally 
the study of grammatical principles, it should be in the 
closest connection with his practice of composition, and with 
constant application thereto. 

What topics in grammar it is worth while to emphasize 
investigation must determine. A good beginning upon such 
an investigation has already been made and should be car- 
ried forward everywhere [lo, 19]. With the definite aim be- 
fore us of including in the course of study such grammar 
study as can actually be made to function in composition, and 
this only, we shall beyond doubt be able to learn in the near 
future how much of English grammar we ought to teach. 

Already two classes of topics are clearly defined. One of 
these includes those inflected forms in which error is common 
and difficult to avoid. Such are the tense forms of verbs 
and the cases of pronouns. The other involves the so-called 
"sentence sense," the clear perception of a thought as a 
completely expressed unit, a group of words made up of sub- 
ject and predicate. This is, of course, conventional. One 
may make himself fairly well understood by means of gestures 
and ejaculations. But civilization communicates by means 
of sentences, and to this standard it is necessary to attain. 
It is best also for the sake of the sheer power to think. 

Standards and Grading. — The settlement of the grammar 
question will leave behind the question of when a pupil is 
up to grade. At present nobody knows. The startling 
variations which will result from the attempt of any group of 
teachers to mark any set of pupils' papers are now familiar 
to everybody [28]. A beginning of scale-making has been 
made, but the pioneer attempts leave much to be desired 
[2; 21; 24; 28; 38]. The important fact is that a method of 
arriving at a scale has been suggested, and during the next 
decade we may expect to see the practice of local conferences 



COMPOSITION 105 

of teachers and local scale-making become common. All the 
teachers of a school should know by what standards the work 
of pupils is to be judged, and should mark papers with con- 
scious educational purposes in view, distinguishing clearly 
between grades for teaching and grades for testing. By 
means of suitable collections of typical compositions, which 
have been filed with comments as to their production and 
respective merits, it will become possible to maintain in a 
school standards for promotion that shall be reasonably free 
from mere individual idiosyncrasy, not to mention temporary 
mood or caprice. As it is, the teacher may only pray to be 
forgiven for the unintentional injustice which she does each 
year when she makes out her pupils' standings in composition. 
Why Have Composition Classes? — There are those who 
would abolish the teacher of composition. It is, say they, 
not a formal subject at all, but merely incident to other activi- 
ties, in connection with which it should be taught. The 
theory is plausible but the thing has not been done. The 
principal limitation is found in the power of attention, which 
somehow cannot be focussed upon several things at the same 
time. History, it will be granted at once, affords excellent 
opportunity for the organization and expression of ideas. 
In the history class one may teach the outKne, the use of the 
full sentence, correct forms of verbs and pronouns, punctua- 
tion, etc., etc. The difficulty is, first, that enthusiasm for 
getting on with history invariably prevents adequate atten- 
tion to these things. If the pupils know them, they may 
be required to use them, but never will it happen that time for 
teaching them adequately will — or should — be taken in the 
midst of an absorbing historical thought movement. Be- 
sides, history is only one phase of intellectual interest; there 
are dozens more. Many of these fall quite outside all organ- 
ized school subjects. Composition alone is fitted to give 
opportunity for the expression of the whole range of one's 
interests, to say nothing of its limitless possibiHties for broad- 
ening that range. And lastly, while the body of composition 



Io6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

technic of which elementary pupils should have a system- 
atic knowledge is relatively small, there is such a body, 
and it will never be ordered into a working system by means 
of incidental treatment in connection with the various school 
subjects. These subjects offer rather the opportunity for 
using and fixing as habit the conscious knowledge of technic 
which the class in composition has developed. This they 
must on no account fail to do. 

Vocational Guidance and Composition. — Enormous possi- 
bilities for training in expression appear in a subject which 
at present lies partly within and partly without the field of 
Enghsh Composition. This is the subject of vocational 
guidance or vocational outlook. With the raising of the 
compulsory age limit of school attendance, the school has 
been confronted more and more with the problem of assist- 
ing young people to find and prepare themselves for a suitable 
calHng. Here is an opportunity, obviously, for extensive 
investigation. There are numerous occupations; they have 
their pecuhar requirements and their unique possibihties. 
Few can claim acquaintance with many of them. Which is 
selected by a given individual is largely accidental. Few per- 
sons are definitely trained for a specific occupation until mature 
years, except as they leave school and take apprenticeship or 
employment in the humblest duties of the occupation. 

Those aware of these facts and impressed with the duty 
of providing counsel, hit upon composition as the most avail- 
able instrument. In the schools of Grand Rapids, Mich., 
more fully it appears than elsewhere, studies of vocations are 
carried on, and here composition has drawn most fully upon 
such studies for its material [15; 16; 42]. The various occupa- 
tions to be found in the community are surveyed and re- 
ported by the pupils themselves, who learn something of the 
values of each. The Kves of successful persons are read and 
reviewed. The pupil's own experiences as a worker are re- 
counted. And not least of all, first-hand studies are made 
to determine the value of education to those who earn their 



COMPOSITION 107 

living and attempt to render service to the community 
[15; 16; 41].^ 

Such activities, with parallel studies in community civics 
and in the Hfe of plants and animals, furnish the raw material 
and occasion of expression in the vocabulary and in the 
manner of common life. Coupled with the reading of liter- 
ature and the making of stories, poems, and plays for the 
satisfaction of the emotional and esthetic Kfe, they may 
serve to round out and give balance to a course in composi- 
tion which is dynamic and fruitful because it is the expres- 
sion of the child himself [33]. 

SUMMARY 

1. Composition is a fundamental social activity, not merely a formal 

study. It is complex in nature, expression in speech or writing 
constituting only one of the processes involved. Its value, 
therefore, is very great; no other study is so well adapted to 
many-sided training of mind and body. 

2. Method in composition should be deduced from actual social prac- 

tices and psychological experiment. The first step is to make 
sure of a motive to expression. Time for the development and 
organization of ideas must be allowed. The pupil should revise 
his own work. Class criticism is more effective than the teach- 
er's criticism. Help the individual. 

3. The course of study should define purposes of communication and 

fields of subject-matter rather than facts and principles of theory. 
Technic should be only the handmaid of expression, not the 
dictator of it. Models should consist mainly of good but not 
exalted specimens of writing done by contemporaries, and should 
follow rather than precede the attempts of the children to carry 
out similar purposes. 

4. Grammar should be regarded as a part of the composition course, 

and only the topics really useful should be included. The ac- 
curacy of grading will be greatly increased, it is believed, by the 
development of scales made up of samples of composition. 
Classes in composition will always be necessary, as in the case 
of other arts. Topics for such classes should, moreover, have 
definite informational or literary value, as in the case of the 
study of vocations. 



Io8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

1. Examine several courses of study for the elementary school in 

order to discover what conception of the nature and value of 
composition each embodies. 

2. Examine several text-books in the same way. 

3. Learn, if possible, how well-known writers practise their art. 

4. Classify the possible subjects for oral and written composition by 

children, and write out ten topics with as much variety as possi- 
ble under each class. 

5. Select a general subject — outdoor sports, for example — and limit 

it so as to secure a definite topic capable of being treated from a 
specific point of view. State the point of view in a full sen- 
tence. 

6. Trace from the first grade to the eighth, the possibility of teaching 

the use of the outline, writing two examples for each grade. 

7. Select six models of different kinds of writing for a certain grade 

and write a comment on each, setting forth its merits and its 
possibilities for class use. 

8. If possible, secure a set of children's compositions substantially 

alike in main purpose, and grade them on the scale of a hundred, 
deciding beforehand how you will apportion credit for thought, 
structure, treatment, and mechanical correctness. Then com- 
pare your grades with those of several other persons and con- 
struct a table of averages. 

9. What is the relative value of letter writing in composition? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. Baker, F. T. — "Composition in Elementary Schools," in "The 
Teaching of English," by Carpenter, Baker, and Scott, pp. 121- 
143. Longmans, $1.50. (A well-balanced treatment, in which 
various theories and practices are passed in review. An ex- 
tensive bibliography is provided.) 

2. Ballou, F. W. — "Scales for the Measurement of English Com- 

position," Harvard-Newton Bulletin for September, 1914. Pub- 
lished by Harvard University, 20 cents. (Specimen compo- 
sitions of different sorts graded by mathematical consensus. 
The merits and defects of the specimens are commented upon.) 

3. Boas, F. S. — "Report of a Conference on the Teaching of English 

in the London Elementary Schools." (A monograph issued by 
the Education Department of the London County Council.) 

4. Bolenius, Emma — "The Teaching of Oral EngHsh." Lippincott, 

$1.00. (An exposition of the newer social methods.) 



COMPOSITION 



109 



5. Brown, RoUe Walter — "How the French Boy Learns to Write." 

Harvard University, $1.25. (A thoroughgoing treatment based 
upon a year of investigation. Trained teachers and an organized 
language tradition are the foundations of the French system.) 

6. Bryant, Sarah Cone — "How to Tell Stories to Children." Hough- 

ton, $1.00. (One of the most helpful books for the primary 
teacher with little experience in story-telling.) 

7. Campagnac, E. T. — "The Teaching of Composition." Hough- 

ton, 35 cents. (A clear exposition of the modern view of com- 
position-teaching. ) 

8. Charters, W. W.— "Methods of Teaching." Row, Peterson & 

Co., $1.00. (Contains several passages setting forth the func- 
tion of language and the appropriate method of teaching it.) 

9. "Teaching the Common Branches." Houghton, $1.25. 

(Contains chapters on language and on grammar; also four 
chapters on methods in general.) 

10. Charters, W. W., and Miller, Edith— "A Course of Study in 

Grammar." University of Missouri Bulletin, Education Series, 
No. 9. (Based upon the grammatical errors of school children 
of Kansas City, Mo.) See also the i6th Year-Book of the 
National Society for the Study of Education. 

11. Chubb, Percival— "The Teaching of English," chapters IV, VIII, 

XI, XII. (A very suggestive discussion, especially as to possible 
subject matter.) 

12. Clapp, H. L., and Huston, K. W. — "Conduct of Composition 

Work in Grammar Grades." D. C. Heath & Co., 15 cents. 
(Contains lists of topics and sample compositions.) 

13. Cooley, Alice W. — "Language Teaching in the Grades." Hough- 

ton, 35 cents. (Places the main dependence on literature.) 

14. Covernton, E. E. — "The Teaching of English Composition." 

Dent & Co., 50 cents. (Mainly literary.) 

15. Davis, J. B. — "Vocational and Moral Guidance." Ginn & Co., 

$1.25. (A full account of the Grand Rapids plan, with abundant 
references.) 

16. "Vocational and Moral Guidance Through English Com- 
position." English Journal [i : 457]. (A paper read before the 
English Round Table of the N. E. A.) 

17. Fish, Susan A. — "What Should Pupils Know in English When 

They Enter the High School?" English Journal, 3 : 166. (A 
plea for simple and definite standards.) 

18. Gilbert, N. D. — "Language Teaching in the Grades," Bulletin of 

the Northern Illinois State Normal School, November, 1905. 
(A sound point of view, with some specific illustrations.) 



no TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

19. Gregory, B. C. — "The Foundation of English." School and Home 

Education, March and April, 1908. (The earliest published ac- 
count of the grammatical errors which children make.) 

20. Hartog, P. J. — "The Writing of Enghsh." Oxford University- 

Press. (An excellent account of how composition is taught in 
France.) 

21. Hillegas, M. B. — "A Scale for the Measurement of Quality in 

English Composition by Young People." Teachers College 
Record, September, 191 2. (A series of short pieces of prose 
writing, some of them artificial, arranged in order of merit by 
averaging many judgments, on the principle that "differences 
equally often noticed are equal.") 

22. Hosic, J. F, — "An Outline for the Discussion of the Teaching of 

Composition, Spelling, Phonics, and Reading." Educational 
Bi-Monthly, October, 1914. 

2T,. "The Elementary Course in English: A Syllabus for 

Teachers." University of Chicago Press, 75 cents. (An out- 
line of the theory of English teaching, with a detailed course for 
each grade.) 

24. "The Essentials of Composition and Grammar." Four- 
teenth Year Book of the National Society for the Study of Edu- 
cation, part I, chap. VII. University of Chicago Press, 75 cents. 
(A survey of investigations, with a summary.) 

25. Humphries, Florence Y. — "Effort vs. Accomplishment." English 

Journal, [3 : 603]. (A plea for grading according to actual re- 
sults instead of according to good intentions. An experiment 
in comparing grades is described.) 

26. Jensen, Adolf, and Lamszus, Wilhelm — "Der Weg zum eigenen 

Stil." Alfred Janssen, Hamburg and Berlin. (A very interest- 
ing account of composition work based upon the actual experi- 
ences of the pupils.) 

27. Kendall, Calvin N., and Mirick, George A. — "How to Teach the 

Fundamental Subjects," pp. 60-122. Houghton, $1.25. (Prac- 
tical suggestions by administrators of large experience.) 

28. Kelly, F. J. — "Teachers' Marks: Their Variability and Standard- 

ization." Columbia University Contributions to Education. 
(A careful survey of the marking system. An extensive bibliog- 
raphy is appended.) 

29. Klapper, Paul— "The Teaching of English." D. Appleton & Co., 

$1.25. (A full treatment, sound in theory, but often unfortunate 
in example.) 

30. McKinney, Isabel — "Composition in the Upper Grades." Bul- 

letin of the Illinois Association of Teachers of English, May, 



COMPOSITION III 

1909. Published at Urbana. (The writer declares the essen- 
tials are conviction of need, constant practice, good form, and 
sincerity.) 

31. "Motives for Composition Work in the Upper Elemen- 
tary Grades." English Journal [2 : 299]. 

32. McMurry, C. A. — "Special Method in Language." Macmillan 

Co., $1.00. (Several chapters of theory are followed by a course 
of study. The chief value of the book lies in the illustrative 
lessons.) 
S3. McMurry, F. M. "Elementary School Standards." World 
Book Co., $1.25. (A radical attack on formal methods.) 

34. "How to Study and Teaching How to Study." Hough- 
ton, $1.25. (Highly suggestive as to the development of specific 
purpose and the organization of thought.) 

35. Noyes, E. C— "The Articulation of the English Work of the Ele- 

mentary School with the English Work of the High School." 
English Journal [3 : 303]. (Summarizes the results of an ex- 
tensive investigation carried on by the National Council of 
Teachers of English.) 

36. O'Shea, M. V. — "Linguistic Development and Education." 

Macmillan Co., $1.50. (See especially the chapter on "Devel- 
opment of Efficiency in Oral Expression.") 

37. Sheridan, Bernard M. — "Speaking and Writing English." Pub- 

lished by the author at Lawrence, Mass. Price, 50 cents. (A 
suggestive course of study with samples of standard work.) 

38. Starch, D. — "Educational Measurements." Macmillan Co. 

39. Swift, E. J. — "Learning and Doing." Bobbs-Merrill Co., $1.00. 

(A good presentation of the general view-point from which com- 
position should be regarded.) 

40. Taylor, J. S. — " Composition in the Elementary School." A. S. 

Barnes Co., 90 cents. (A body of material compiled by one of 
the New York School superintendents.) 

41. "Vocational Guidance Work in the Grand Rapids High 

School." English Journal [3 : 507]. (An outline covering the 
seventh and eighth grades, as well as the years following.) 

42. Wilson, H. B. — "The Motivation of Language Work." School and 

Home Education, February, March, May, and September, 191 2. 
(A series of short articles setting forth methods used in the 
schools of Decatur, 111.) 

43. Wilson, H. B. and G. M. — "Motivation of School Work," chapter 

VI. (A final statement by the authors of many articles on 
motivation.) 



CHAPTER V 

GRAMMAR 

Preliminary Problems 

1. What are some opinions regarding the teaching of grammar in the 

grades which you have recently heard expressed? What con- 
ditions make an opinion in such a matter valuable ? 

2. What percentage of school systems require grammar to be taught 

in the elementary schools? 

3. What proportion of children who study grammar in the grades go 

on to a study of rhetoric and foreign language? 

4. Can you give concrete examples, from your own experience or ob- 

servation, of help in expression through the knowledge of gram- 
mar? 

5. According to your observation, how thoroughly are the grammat- 

ical facts in the course of study mastered by the children ? By 
the teacher? 

6. At what point in the grades, if at any, should the classification of 

grammatical facts begin? 

7. What are some differences in methods to be used in teaching a sci- 

ence and an art ? To what extent should children be taught how 
and why they are to do certain things in such a subject as music, 
drawing, or composition work? To what extent should their 
work in any art be spontaneous? Imitative? Deductive? 

8. In what ways is the teacher's problem in English teaching different 

from that of the educated mother in a good home ? 

9. At what age are pupils most capable of learning grammar readily 

and utilizing it in improving their discourse? 

I. The Present Standing of Grammar 

The subject called grammar differs so greatly in different 
schools that any discussion should begin with a definition. 
In this chapter, grammar is understood in its accepted sense 
as denoting the science of language. Modern EngHsh gram- 
mar, then, is the orderly arrangement and classification of the 



GRAMMAR II3 

present facts of the English language. The definition im- 
mediately suggests the insistent questions that are pro- 
pounded by the modern scientific spirit in education: Has 
this science of language any place in the elementary school? 
If so, what place ? Every intelligent teacher should be aware 
of these questions, and of the attempts that have been made 
to answer them. Thousands of teachers are required to 
teach grammar. It is important for them to understand its 
present place in the school and, if possible, how to make time 
spent on it worth while. 

The chief reasons given for keeping grammar in the ele- 
mentary curriculum, aside from a mere deference to tradi- 
tion, have been: (i) That it contributes more than any- 
thing which can be put into its place to the aims of education; 
(2) that it is in itself an interesting and useful study for 
children; (3) that it provides a necessary, or at least a de- 
sirable, preparation for the study of rhetoric and foreign lan- 
guages; (4) that it contributes to a mastery of the art of 
speaking and writing correctly; (5) that it introduces chil- 
dren to the methods of scientific thinking, using material 
familiar from babyhood. Two other claims sometimes 
made — that grammar is helpful in the study of literature, 
and that its terminology is indispensable — may be dis- 
missed with the stating. 

With regard to the first and second reasons there is at 
present very little difference of opinion: the mere facts of 
grammar are not of sufficient interest and usefulness to the 
majority of children to justify their being taught in the ele- 
mentary school. The third reason is valid for the minority 
of pupils who are to study rhetoric and foreign languages; 
therefore this reason alone would justify a fairly thorough 
course of the right kind for such children in places where a 
goodly proportion of pupils continue their education beyond 
the eighth grade. Certainly this important minority should 
not be overlooked in planning a course of study. Some con- 
sideration of their interests is likely to result from the present 



114 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

movement for a better articulation between the elementary 
and the high school courses in English, the one subject con- 
tinuous throughout the twelve years. The movement for 
the unification of grammatical nomenclature also has regard 
chiefly to the ever-increasing army of high school and college 
students. But in a large system of schools the course must 
be planned for the greatest good of the greatest number, 
perhaps subject to modification for special localities. Since 
the great majority of children never go beyond the eighth 
grade, the only reasons that can be valid to give grammar a 
place in the course of study are the last two: its usefulness 
for training either in logical thinking or in practical mastery 
of the language. 

Claims Challenged. — These two claims have recently been 
challenged by students of education, with interesting results. 
First, there are those who, reasoning either a priori or from 
observation, declare that training in logical thinking in one 
field will not lead to logical thinking in another field; that the 
field of language facts is too remote from life to be important 
to children; that logical thinking in that field is beyond the 
power of children anyway; and that the practical results of 
the study of grammar are not discernible in oral or written 
language work. Then there are other students of education 
who, believing that a priori reasoning on such matters is 
futile, have set themselves to test these last claims of grammar 
by experiment. Supt. Franklin S. Hoyt, experimenting with 
two hundred pupils entering an Indianapolis high school 
from practically every grammar school in the city, found that 
the influence of the scientific grammar taught in that city 
was approximately zero as applied to composition work and 
the interpretation of language. The results of this experi- 
ment were corroborated by Doctor L. W. Rapeer's tests con- 
ducted in 1906 with two hundred MinneapoKs pupils. More 
recently, Professor Thomas H. Briggs, of Columbia, in a series 
of ingenious experiments has investigated the effect of scien- 
tific grammar upon thinking ability. He discovered that 



GRAMMAR II5 

the measurable improvement of the children in logical think- 
ing was approximately zero.^ 

If the evidence of these experiments be accepted as final 
proof, it would appear that scientific grammar, as such, has 
no place in the elementary school, except where a large pro- 
portion of the pupils go on to high school. It should be re- 
membered, however, that the experimenters themselves do not 
claim to have proved positively that grammar, even as now 
taught, is entirely valueless for elementary school children; 
they claim only that their experiments tend to show this. 
In a matter of values so extremely complicated, a very large 
number of experiments would be requisite to a sound conclu- 
sion, as any scientist will afhrm. Still less have these experi- 
ments proved that grammar as it might be taught could not 
train pupils to think logically about spoken and written words 
at least, or give them some tools of general use in scientific 
thinking, or improve their oral and written English. As to 
whether the most carefully selected and arranged course in 
grammar, well taught, can be made to do so, and to do so in 
a sufficiently high degree to deserve a place in the crowded 
curriculum of the elementary school, only further careful 
study can determine. It is very doubtful whether such a 
question is capable of being answered positively and finally 
and for all cases now, but a sincere attempt to get at the 
truth cannot fail to bring better results than those at present 
attained in the schools. 

The Emergency. — Meanwhile, with a full course in the 
subject required in many schools, at least in the two upper 
grades, the teachers are facing the practical problems of what 
to teach, and how to teach it. If there is such a thing as a 
course of study in grammar, or a method of teaching it that 
will help to train the pupils in logical thinking, and more 
especially to give them a mastery of good EngHsh, what is 
it? Every teacher of English in the grades should consider 

^ See references in Bibliography. 



Il6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

herself an investigator into the possibilities of teaching the 
right facts of grammar in the right way to make them practical. 

II. The Course of Study 

Governing Principles. — The outline of an ideal course of 
study in this disputed territory is not within the province of 
this chapter; and indeed, as has already been implied, such 
an outline is still to be discovered. Moreover, most teach- 
ers are powerless in choosing a course; they may only modify 
to some extent, according to circumstances, a course laid 
down for them. Since, however, they may usually emphasize 
important matters at their discretion, they may find useful 
some general principles which must determine the course of 
study, and some specific suggestions. The subject must be 
taught in many schools, and we should as teachers make it 
contribute as much as possible to the aims of education. 

1. Since it is evident that not all the facts with regard to 
the grammar of modern English can be or should be taught 
in the elementary school, only those facts should be chosen 
which are (a) important to a clear understanding of sentence 
structure, (b) useful, (c) comprehensible to the children. 

2. In the lower grades every effort should be made to 
correct grammatical errors and to fix right forms by imita- 
tion and drill, with httle or no attempt at explanation of 
reasons or at classification of errors. The important point 
is to make the right form sound right and the wrong form 
sound wrong. 

3. A few forms should be assigned to each grade for mas- 
tery. Nearly all EngUsh teachers attempt to do too many 
different kinds of things and fail to give thorough drill on a 
few elementary forms. A careful study of prevalent gram- 
matical mistakes should be made for each locality, and the 
few most common errors should be carefully distributed for 
correction in the several grades. A pupil in the sixth grade, 
then, should be held rigidly to account for forms supposedly 
mastered in the five preceding grades, and so on. 



GRAMMAR II 7 

4. Since imitation and drill on a few forms are often in- 
sufficient to overcome the handicap of a pupil's home influ- 
ences, reasons, explanations, classification, and rules, should 
be given to the older pupils; that is, scientific grammar used 
as a tool should help to govern practice when pupils are old 
enough to understand it. 

5. Scientific grammar should be truly scientific as far as it 
goes. That is, no fact should be taught until it can be taught 
truly and in sufficient relation to needs of expression to mean 
something. 

6. Children below the seventh grade as a rule are not 
sufficiently mature to deal with language facts scientifically, 
without unwise expenditure of time. All the necessary 
grammar can be taught in one year, or even in part of a year; 
but since this grammar should be closely and constantly re- 
lated to the composition work, it is better to distribute it 
over the seventh and eighth, or, in the intermediate or junior 
high schools, the seventh, eighth, and ninth years. 

7. In explaining the phenomena of the English language 
there is a logical order of procedure from basic facts to those 
that depend upon them, an order which cannot be changed 
without some sacrifice of clear understanding. While seem- 
ing to grow out of the composition work, the study of gram- 
matical facts should perhaps be planned to progress from 
fundamental ideas to those that are built upon them. Yet 
development in language should not be subordinated to the 
sequence of the science. 

8. Since in an analytic language like English the impor- 
tance of the sentence to the meaning of the word can hardly 
be exaggerated, the sentence as the unit of thought is the 
unit in any scientific study of such a language. 

9. To be of practical value, any study must be thorough. 
Therefore, since there is not time for all the facts, it is best 
to dwell at length on the larger facts of sentence structure, 
ignoring minutiae. 

10. No fact need be taught that has not some direct bear- 



Il8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

ing on the use of good English. Too often, however, it seems 
to be assumed that the only practical grammar has to do with 
the forms of words, and that the only test of its efficiency is 
its influence on correctness of oral speech. All knowledge that 
may be applied to the construction of good sentences, to proper 
punctuation, as well as to the choice of right forms of words, 
and that does not crowd out more valuable knowledge, is 
practical. 

11. The study of the parts of speech as such may well be 
limited to such facts as have to do with the choice of right 
forms. If this plan is followed, complete parsing will gener- 
ally be found as impossible as it is unnecessary. 

12. For those who are interested and who have some 
feeling for the integrity of subject-matter, and for all those 
who expect to teach, there should be provided somewhere in 
the high school a thorough elective course, to which the chil- 
dren can be referred when they question the gaps in their 
knowledge. 

Specific Suggestions. — Some teachers may like to see listed 
the most practical material of grammar, together with spe- 
cific applications to the language and composition work. 
They should remember, however, that none of it is likely to 
be practical unless it is made so by constant application of 
knowledge to practice. Children do not usually apply the 
general to the particular, the knowing to the doing, unless 
they are taught and required to do so. 

Sentence Analysis. — Of the matter usually included under 
sentence analysis, everything is practical that helps to de- 
velop the sentence feeling, the grasp of essential elements, 
the recognition of subject and predicate, and of predication 
or assertion as such. This last notion is necessary to the cor- 
rection of errors caused by confusion between the past tense 
of the verb and the past participle, which can never assert. 
In a study of the grammatical errors made by Kansas City 
school children, Professor Charters of the University of Mis- 
souri found that 1,426, or 24 per cent of the total errors re- 



GRAMMAR 



119 



ported in oral English, were made by the confusion of these 
two forms. Complete predication is what distinguishes a 
sentence from a phrase or clause. When sentence-sense be- 
gins to be achieved it should be turned to account in a final 
assault on the comma blunder, and its opposite, the ampu- 
tated phrase or clause. Mr. Charters found that 30 per cent 
of the errors in written work, 3,600 all told, consisted in the 
failure to put a period at the end of a sentence. No pupil 
should be permitted to enter business or high school making 
this mistake in his writing. 

Pronouns, Possessives, and Appositives. — When pronouns 
are first considered, some matters pertaining to clear refer- 
ence of pronouns to their antecedents and afterward, at 
least in written work, every pronoun whose antecedent is not 
immediately clear should be challenged. // and this and 
which are peculiarly liable to obscure or weak reference. 
Possessive modifiers and appositives are obviously practical. 
Perhaps no simple and well-known rule of punctuation is 
more frequently violated than the one that concerns the use 
of the apostrophe with the genitive, or possessive, of nouns, 
and its omission from the corresponding pronoun forms. 
The rules for these cases and for the comma with appositive 
words and phrases have probably been taught long before 
the seventh grade ; but if, as is likely, the application of these 
rules has not been made habitual with the pupils, the new 
emphasis that comes from meeting the constructions in gram- 
mar may be utilized to give purpose to thorough drill. It 
should be noted that the Kansas City study brought to light 
the fact that children use the appositive scarcely at all, and 
hence made scarcely any mistakes in punctuating it. For 
this reason it is struck out of the course, by those who made 
the study. However, it is a useful construction ; and it would 
seem better, perhaps, to teach the children to use it in 
their written work correctly, to avoid wordiness in many 
sentences. Older pupils do use it, and fail to punctuate it 
correctly. 



I20 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Clauses. — The study of clauses has important practical 
bearings. When adjective and adverb clauses are first met, 
their recognition should lead to freer use in compositions, 
driving out some of the stringy compound sentences of child- 
ish writing. As they are taken up in greater detail, one of 
the most important and difficult of distinctions should by 
all means be insisted upon — that between restrictive and non- 
restrictive modifiers. When this is thoroughly understood, 
it can be applied in punctuation. The discussion of noun 
clauses gives opportunity for new drill on the punctuation of 
direct and indirect quotations. Of adverb clauses it is the 
meanings that are important. The relations of if and though 
clauses — that is, the real notions of concession and condition 
— are almost new to many children. Again, and more specif- 
ically than at first, the study should lead to freer use of 
clauses, to the occasional substitution of though for hut, to 
the more definite expression of relations. Eighth-grade chil- 
dren can be interested and profited by such application of 
their grammatical knowledge, if they really have the knowl- 
edge. The right use of as and as if as clause connectives, 
instead of like, which should never introduce a clause, may 
well be emphasized at this point; and until instead of before 
may be given some attention in places where it is misused. 
There is no reason, either, why the subordination of the 
truly subordinate should not be insisted upon; any eighth- 
grade child is capable of understanding that to say, for ex- 
ample: "I was walking down the street when I saw an auto- 
mobile accident" gives a false emphasis to the less important 
idea. The placing of subordinate clauses for coherence and 
emphasis is well within their grasp, though the abstract 
rhetorical terms need not be used. 

Practical material in the study of the parts of speech is 
chiefly: correct plurals; capitals for proper nouns; the pos- 
sessive case; case forms of pronouns for subject, predicate 
attribute, object, and object of a preposition; matters of 
agreement; choice of adjectives and adverbs; matters of 



GRAMMAR 121 

tense; choice between past participle and past tense; choice 
between transitive and intransitive verb forms (e. g,, lie and 
lay) ; principal parts and conjugation of certain verbs {attach, 
ask, drag, drown, among those perfectly regular) ; correct for- 
mation of certain verb phrases {e. g., must have gone instead 
of must of went); right uses of the passive voice; and, per- 
haps, proper grammatical and logical subjects of verbals, 
the genitive with gerunds especially.^ 

Throughout the study, after compound elements are in- 
troduced, there should be much drill upon proper subordina- 
tion and co-ordination, the proper junction of verb with verb, 
subject with subject, phrase with phrase, clause with clause, 
sentence with sentence. If children have been taught to 
write freely and sincerely in the first six grades, they may 
well begin to take thought for the structure of their sentences 
more consciously in the work of the last two years; and if 
they are taught to keep their attention primarily on the 
thought to be conveyed and on the reader to whom they 
are conveying it, and to consider sentence structure only in 
revision, they need not sacrifice sincerity and spontaneity to 
correctness and effectiveness. 

The teacher who has well in mind the whole list of prac- 
tical applications for the year's course can collect in advance 
abundant material for drill from the children's own speech 
and writing. An example of a comma blunder, a mistaken 
verb form, an adjective for an adverb, or some other error 
from the children's work may well serve to introduce a careful 
study of each point in grammar. The grammatical knowledge 
once given, must be tested and applied in special exercises, 
and then carried over into original language and composition 
work, oral or written, or both. Perhaps it may not be out 
of place at this point to remark that the same kind of English 
should be required in all classes as is required in the English 

^ See list of practical grammatical facts as determined by the errors of Kan- 
sas City children, appended, pp. 156-161. See also lists in chapter I. 



122 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

class. All oral or written expression in school should be part 
of the course of study in English. 

III. The Teaching of Grammar 

The consideration of the application of grammar to com- 
position work has led us inevitably from the course of study 
to methods of teaching, since the choice of material depends 
very much on the use that is to be made of that material. 
Some more specific consideration of the teaching of this sub- 
ject-matter is next in order. 

1. Requisites for Teaching. — Of course a sensible plan of 
campaign is the first requisite for successful teaching. Next, 
in grammar, as in every subject, comes a thorough equipment 
of the teacher. For the teacher of grammar in the upper 
grades this will include real scholarship in the field — that is, 
more than a mastery of the particular text to be taught or 
of any elementary text, at least a passing acquaintance with 
the real scholars in English grammar; it will include also a 
competent grasp of the elementary principles of rhetoric and, 
for best results, the knowledge of at least one other language. 
Besides these attainments, the teacher must have a sense of 
proportionate values and needs, along with a clear realization 
of how much the pupils already have. She must be a student 
of her pupils' language habits. Imagination, an asset not 
usually included as necessary to grammar- teaching, is indis- 
pensable if we are to avoid ''make-believe grammar,''^ if 
words and sentences are to be what they are in real Hfe, and 
not mere dried specimens. It is also needed here, as in any 
field, to illuminate a pupil's state of mind, and thus enable 
the teacher to forestall difficulties. Skill in questioning and 
ingenuity in devices both for presentation and for drill are 
in no subject more valuable. 

2. Aim and Point of View. — The general aim in the teach- 
ing of grammar is easily deducible from what has already 
been said. The purpose of whatever training in grammar is 

^ See Bibliography. 



GRAMMAR 1 23 

given in the lower grades is to make the right forms habitual. 
The purpose of teaching English grammar in the upper grades 
in a more systematic way is to supplement such training by 
giving a thorough knowledge of such facts of the English lan- 
guage as apply to its intelligent use, and to teach these in such 
a way as to train the pupil in logical thinking, in so far as any 
systematic study can train him. Since language is the ex- 
pression of thought, and especially since the English lan- 
guage is almost without inflection, there is no escape from 
thinking as the basis of all study of this language. The out- 
cry against teaching logic in the elementary schools is liable 
to misinterpretation by many teachers. How much of the 
science of logic would a logician find in any widely used 
grammar? If the outcry means that sentences should be 
taught without reference to the thoughts they express — that 
is, to their meaning — it is palpably absurd. Consideration 
of English sentences is a consideration of meaning; and any 
other point of view will make the study of grammar merely 
mechanical, and therefore most useless and impractical. 
Real insight is necessary if a bit of knowledge is to be ap- 
pKed. The teacher's aim should be to give this insight, and 
then to take and to make opportunities for its use.^ 

The specific aim will thus differ with different lessons. 
In the lower grades, and in the same sort of work continued, 
as it should be, in the upper grades, the aim will be to im- 
press the fact that one form in common use is wrong and 
another right, and so to fix the right form through repetition 
that it will at length be chosen unconsciously. In the upper 
grades, when presenting a new bit of grammatical knowledge, 
the teacher will ignore all future appHcations to concentrate 
on the clearest possible first impression of the fact itself. 
In first testing the pupil's knowledge after such a fact has 
been presented, the aim will be to examine this first impres- 
sion and correct it if necessary. A drill lesson in grammar 

1 See the chapter on "Language and the Training of Thought" in Dewey's 
"How We Think." 



124 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

will be designed to fix this impression. A lesson applying the 
grammatical knowledge to use will test the knowledge in the 
most thorough way. Its aim will be to fix good habits, and 
to root out bad by applying reason first and then by repeti- 
tion. The final test and training is, of course, in the com- 
position lessons, with which this chapter is not concerned. 

3. Motives. — If the course of study is sensible, the teach- 
er's equipment adequate, and the aim and point of view 
right, the question of motive will, for the majority of pupils, 
take care of itself. Perhaps hardly anything so stimulates 
effort as the sense of progress. Children in the seventh 
grade are susceptible to this feeling, and are quick to lose 
interest if their work appears to them haphazard and purpose- 
less. To them no remote end is half so real as the immediate 
next step. The constant and systematic working up of 
grammar in making reasonable the corrections of practice 
will give a further and perhaps more vital motive. This will 
be true only if the children are held strictly accountable for 
facts once taught and drilled upon. For example, after the 
comma blunder has been thoroughly aired in the seventh 
grade, no finished paper in any subject should be accepted if 
it contains this error. It is human nature to take no more 
pains than the occasion requires. Grading should be just, 
uniform, yet increasingly severe, if effort is to be steady and 
increasingly fruitful. Children who are not susceptible to 
the motives of immediate interest, the sense of increasing 
mastery, of evident need, or to the stimulus of grades, must, 
of course, be penalized in some way — by detention or other- 
wise. 

4. Methods — (a) General Suggestions. — Methods are merely 
ways and means of teaching. The most important general 
principle of grammar- teaching is that the pupils must by all 
means be made to think of meanings, to discriminate like- 
nesses and differences, and not merely to memorize definitions 
and rules. For the purpose of this scientific study all kinds 
of specimens are readily available. These the pupil must 



GRAMMAR 1 25 

learn to examine and classify. For authority, step by step, 
he must learn to look into his own mind, not to a teacher, a 
dictionary, or any other guide. For each new step in anal- 
ysis the inductive method is therefore the best.^ For all drill 
and habit-forming, the problem of method is to make repeti- 
tion and memory work constantly fresh and interesting with 
skilful devices. It is evident, then, that the teacher must 
adapt means to end, must have no stereotyped procedures — 
not Method, but methods. She must learn to keep still and 
let the pupil think when confronted with problematic matters 
for thought, but to exact instant response when the pupil is 
supposedly reciting from memory. She must learn to em- 
phasize different material for different classes. For an eighth 
grade that has sHpped through all the years without learning 
to write a decent business or personal letter to spend its time 
discussing the analysis of an interestingly idiomatic sentence 
like: ^'A few years ago men were a month travelHng a thou- 
sand miles," is the height of folly; whereas another eighth 
grade, well ready for high school, might possibly be al- 
lowed to amuse itself and to test its insight with such a 
puzzle. 

(b) Some Kinds of Lessons. — Outlines of various kinds 
of lessons may prove suggestive. It will be observed that 
what the teacher must do is always to see clearly the exact 
purpose of the lesson, the relation of this to previous lessons, 
and the probable difhculties. All the lessons outlined below 
bear more or less directly upon the same grammatical fact, 
and one that is fundamental. The lessons, as will be seen, 
are not consecutive. The first lesson should be followed by 
one on transitive verbs, and another on the direct object be- 
fore the second is given. The examples in Lesson II are 
rather difficult, and may be simphfied for inferior classes. 
Its only practical bearing is to sharpen the notion of transi- 
tive. The fourth lesson cannot be taught as given until 

^ See chapters on inductive and deductive lessons in Strayer's "The Teach- 
ing Process," also Chap, 7 in his "How to Teach." 



126 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

principal parts of verbs and old and new conjugations have 
been discussed, but it may be modified to follow Lesson III 
directly. 

Lesson I. Inductive 

Special Aim. — To give the class a true first impression of 
the meaning of transitive. If attention is centered not on 
the transitive idea expressed by the verb but on the word fol- 
lowing the verb — the object — classification will be haphazard 
and mechanical. Such verbs as walked and cost in ' ' He walked 
a mile," ''The book cost a dollar," will be felt as transitive. 
In presenting the idea of transitiveness it is best to use verbs 
in which the children do not make mistakes in form, in order 
to avoid confusion. Attention should here be fixed on the 
meaning, entirely without regard to words as parts of speech. 

Basis Assumed. — An understanding of the sentence, 
subject and predicate, and verb. 

Presentation. — (The idea to be presented is so new that 
it may be attacked without preliminary review.) 

Teacher: We have often talked about actions, and about predi- 
cates (or verbs) that express action. To-day we need to discover two 
different kinds of action. Jimmy (to an unsuspecting and rather 
slow pupil), stand. (Jimmy stands, automatically.) Tear. (Jimmy 
looks blank; perhaps says something about a verb. The teacher 
quietly insists.) No, why don't you do as I say — tear. (Jimmy 
probably still stares blankly, while perhaps half the rest of the class 
begin to beam.) 

Teacher (still quietly insisting) : Jimmy, I told you to tear. 

Jimmy (finally) : I haven't got anything to tear. 

Teacher (ignoring the got in the exigency of the moment) : Somebody 
give him something. (A neighbor hands him a piece of paper.) Now, 
Jimmy, tear the paper. Why did you hesitate when I told you to 
tear? Why didn't you hesitate when I told you to stand? (From 
Jimmy and others in the class several statements, as clear as possible 
in answer to these questions.) What other acts can you put into the 
same class with standing, acts that involve nothing but the actor? 
(Writes standing on the board, and under it sitting, walking, running^ 
crying, etc., as the class suggest them. If some have not seemed to 
get the point, some of the acts are actually performed.) What other 



GRAMMAR 1 27 

acts can you class with tearing, acts involving something besides the 
actor? {Note. — Caution is needed here, since many acts, writing, 
reading, etc., may be thought of either as transitive or as intransitive. 
For the moment, if suggested, they may be accepted in the transitive 
sense, unless some bright pupil objects; then they may be entered in 
both columns. A list is made as before.) How many see clearly 
that some acts involve merely an actor while others involve also some- 
thing besides the actor? The first are called intransitive, the sec- 
ond transitive. (Writes words above lists on the board.) 

Who can define a transitive act? Julia, Mary, Richard, Ola, 
class. What now are the two kinds of acts? How would you define 
an intransitive act? Give me some sentences asserting transitive 
acts of some boy, or man, or dog. Some sentences asserting intransi- 
tive acts. {Note. — If the recitation period is long enough, the classi- 
fication of verbs as transitive or intransitive may follow immediately, 
based upon easy sentences in the text or on the board. Otherwise 
this topic may be taken up at the next recitation. The conception of 
what is meant by action must be made very broad to cover mental 
acts, as well as owning and owing, etc.) 

Assignment. — Write to hand in ten sentences expressing transitive 
acts and ten expressing intransitive acts. Underline the words ex- 
pressing these acts. See if you can make a good definition of a transi- 
tive verb. 

Lesson II. Deductive 

Special Aim. — To test the pupils* understanding of tran- 
sitive verbs by applying their definitions to fairly difficult 
examples. 

Basis Assumed. — Thorough mastery of definition of tran- 
sitive verb worked out by induction; understanding of the 
object of a transitive verb. 

Preparation. — Review of definitions. Rapid oral classi- 
fication of easy verbs in: 

1. The children found a lame puppy. 

2. He walked to town. 

3. Nobody saw the culprit. 

4. Still water runs deep. 

5. We planted sweet peas in March. 

6. The new boy sits at our table. 

7. Helen set the table for six. 



128 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Presentation. — Sentences on the board with verbs under- 
lined (previously assigned for study). 

1. Nobody saw him come in. 

2. They passed the house several times. 

3. He went home at five o'clock. 

4. My hat became a nuisance in the wind. 

5. My hat became my sister very well. 

6. The children soon grew restless. 

7. The baby grew like a weed. 

8. Tommy grew mushrooms in his cellar, 
g. He hurt his hand on the broken glass. 

10. He cut himself on the broken glass. 

1 1 . He owes me five dollars. 

12. He ought to pay it. 

13. He should pay it. 

14. He will pay it. 

15. He shall pay it. 

Teacher: Read the sentence, name the verb, classify it as transi- 
tive or intransitive, telling why in each case. If the verb is transitive, 
name the actor and the other thing involved besides the actor. John, 
Susan, etc. 

(The children make topical recitations, without further questions 
or repetitions of directions. Mistakes are corrected by classmates 
as far as possible. Free discussion is encouraged.) 

Assignment. — Write to hand in ten sentences using the verbs grow, 
become, pass, write, and think first transitively and then intransitively. 
Underline each object. 

Lesson III. Drill 

Special Aim. — To make the classification of verbs as tran- 
sitive and intransitive rapid and accurate. 

Basis Assumed. — As above. 

Preparation. — Define a transitive verb, an intransitive 
verb. The object. 

Presentation. — ^Twenty sentences on the board, either easy 
or more difl&cult ones, that have been discussed before. 

Teacher: Read the sentence and classify the verb, saying: "The 
verb — is transitive" (or intransitive) — nothing more. Julia, Sarah, 



GRAMMAR 1 29 

etc., very quickly. (Papers prepared by the children and brought to 
class, based upon this assignment: "Make or find fifteen sentences 
in which the verbs are just hard enough and not too hard for this class 
now. Be sure you know how to classify them yourself.") John, read 
a sentence and call on some one to classify the verb. If he does this 
promptly and correctly, he may read a sentence and call on some 
one else; if not, you have another turn, and so on. 

When this begins to lag, the papers are collected and the teacher 
reads carefully chosen sentences, not previously assigned, to the class, 
who are provided with slips of paper. As each sentence is read, each 
pupil puts down in columns on his slip the number of the sentence, 
the verb, and its classification (transitive or intransitive) only. Slips 
are exchanged for correction, and the sentences read again with the 
correct classification, pupils checking mistakes. The slips are then 
collected, 

{Note. — Here three different devices are suggested for one lesson. 
Usually, however, the drill lessons should be shorter, and should pref- 
ace the introduction of a new topic.) 

Assignment. — A written test (or an entirely different topic). . 

Lesson IV. Application, Deductive and Drill ^ 

Special Aim. — ^To apply the knowledge of transitive verbs 
and of old and new conjugation to the choice between the 
forms of lie and lay. 

Basis Assumed. — A knowledge of transitive and intransi- 
tive, and of the principal parts of the two verbs. 

Preparation. — Give me the principal parts of lie, of lay. 
Give all the forms of each. Which has no d anywhere? 
Which is transitive ? Why are these two verbs more con- 
fusing than any others in the language? (Because the past 
tense of lie is the same as the present tense of lay — except the 
form lays.) What does each verb mean? 

Presentation. — Fifteen or twenty sentences, on the board 
or on papers, or in the text, requiring forms of lie to fill blanks 
— including the present participle in various uses. Teacher: 
Read the sentence, filling the blank correctly. Then give all 

^ It will be noticed that the movement of this series of four lessons is largely 
inductive up to the understanding and definition of transitive and intransitive 
verbs, and largely deductive afterward. 



130 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

the parts — lie, lies, lying, lay, lain — each time. (Fifteen or 
twenty sentences requiring forms of lay) Teacher: Read 
the sentence, filling the blank correctly, and give all the 
parts. Show why the verb is transitive. (Fifteen or 1?wenty 
sentences requiring a choice from forms of lie or lay) Teacher : 
Read the sentence correctly and justify your choice. Teacher : 
Give me now a synopsis of lie in the third person singular, 
adding an appropriate phrase of place. Give a synopsis of 
lay in the third person singular, using an appropriate object 
(e. g., I lay the carpet, etc.). 

Teacher: Answer my statement with a corresponding one for the 
other verb. "I laid the carpet." 

Pupil: I lay on the grass. 

Teacher: I was laying the carpet. 

Pupil: I was lying on the grass, etc., etc. 

Assignment. — Write to read in class twenty sensible and not too 
short sentences, using forms of lie and lay. Be ready to analyze each. 
Use especially lying, laying, and lain. 

(c). Use of Analysis and Diagramming. — A discussion of 
grammar methods would be incomplete without some con- 
sideration of various kinds of analysis and diagramming. Any 
form of analysis is good that emphasizes the principal facts 
about a sentence, and that insures a logical order of thinking 
them out. Any form of analysis is bad that calls attention 
to the form itself, away from the facts about the sentence. 
Both oral and written analysis should be used. The complete, 
coherent analysis of a sentence, either orally or in a written 
paragraph, may be made an admirable exercise in composition. 
Such clear statement in connected English sentences should 
never be crowded out by shorthand forms or diagrams; yet 
it is not invariably necessary or desirable. A quick and 
certain grasp of the essential elements of the sentence is 
the most important attainment for the children; and there- 
fore they should have much rapid drill in finding these with- 
out regard to anything else. In many sentences only one or 
two grammatical relations are of interest, and the rest may 



GRAMMAR 131 

be taken for granted. As has been already remarked, co- 
ordination and subordination of members should be drilled 
upon until either is quickly recognized. 

A Code. — Some code for numbering essential elements 
and underlining (or overlining) modifiers may be devised for 
rapid shorthand analysis. The tabular form originated by 
Sir Joshua Fitch^ is famihar to most teachers. Two speci- 
mens of these quick forms are given below, the first suitable 
for long sentences with clause and phrase adjuncts; the 
second (Fitch's), most useful for shorter sentences. These 
forms differ from diagramming in being less mechanical and in 
keeping the words in their natural order, and the first is 
especially useful in exhibiting to the eye the relation of clauses 
and phrases. 

I a a 2 3 

1. The stone which the builders rejected has become the headstone 
of the corner. 

I 2 and 3 4 12 3 

2. A wise son maketh a glad father; but a foolish son is the heaviness 
of his mother. 

h b 32 I 

3. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness ! 

KEY TO SYMBOLS 

= adverb. i = subject. 

^ = adjective. 2 and 3 = simple predicate. 

line below = phrase. 4 = object, 

line above = clause. 

1. Peter subj. of 3. 

2. the tailor appos. of i. 

3. lent pred. vb. of i. 

4. them ind. obj. of 3. 

5. his poss. mod. of 6. 

6. boat obj. of 3. 

^ See Bibliography. 



B< 



132 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

1. A boy's poss. mod. of 2. 

2. will subj. of 3 and 5. 

3. is cop. ; joins 5 to 2. 

4. the wind's poss. mod. of 5. 

5. will pred. noun of i. 

6. and co-or. conj.; joins A and B. 

7. the thoughts subj. of 9 and 12. 

8. of youth prep. phr. ad. of 7. 

9. are cop.; joins 12 to 7. 

10. long adj. ad. of 12. 

11. long adj. ad. of 12. 

12. thoughts pred. noun of 7. 

A and B co-or. propositions. 

The forms of diagramming are too numerous and too familiar to be 
illustrated here. If diagramming is used at all, it should be some very 
simple system that cannot become a mere exercise in drawing; and it 
should never drive out other methods of analysis. 

{d). The Use of Definitions. — The place of definitions in 
the teaching of grammar is an important one. In this day 
it is probably unnecessary to remark that definitions should 
not be memorized if they are not understood. It may not 
be so unnecessary to insist that definitions should be memo- 
rized when they are understood. Moreover a definition should 
be as accurate and at the same time as simple as the facts 
permit. An untrue definition vitiates the whole understand- 
ing of the fact; and if the pupil is not prepared to grasp a true 
definition he is not prepared to study the subject under dis- 
cussion. The old practice of teaching, for example, some- 
where about the fourth grade, that " sl verb is an action word '^ 
is fortunately no longer prevalent. A definition should be, 
what the word implies, a true boundary between classes. It 
should be the summing up of the pupil's knowledge, induc- 
tively developed. 

Seventh and eighth grade pupils are old enough to appre- 
ciate the wording of a clear definition and to attempt such 
clear definitions of their own. They may be asked to define 
a chair, a wagon, and other well-known objects, so that they 



GRAMMAR 1 33 

may discover the two things to be accomplished in defining 
— classification and differentiation. They may criticise defi- 
nitions of familiar things, made purposely defective in classi- 
fication or in differentiation. Such training helps them to 
learn understandingly necessary definitions both in grammar 
and in other subjects, and is one of the most helpful contri- 
butions of grammar to the general thinking ability of the 
pupils. 

The definition once learned should be kept ready in mind 
by constant drill, and should be used as a touchstone for 
trying new facts. Of course it is perfectly evident that the 
child with a quick memory may glibly recite words that are 
to him mere syllables, and that no value should be attached 
to such parrot-talk. But the skilful teacher will make the defi- 
nition useful as a test of insight, a summary of observed facts, 
and a key to the right classification and use of further facts. 

5. Nomenclature. — The vexed subject of grammatical 
nomenclature cannot be adequately discussed within the 
limits set for this chapter. Every teacher of grammar should 
procure the bulletin of the National Education Association 
for July, 1 91 3, which contains the report of the joint com- 
mittee on grammatical nomenclature from the National 
Education Association, the Modern Language Association, 
and the American Philological Association, indorsed by the 
committee from the National Council of Teachers of English. 
While the report may seem to grade teachers extremely com- 
plicated, it is to be remembered that only such terms as are 
required are to be used;^ that is, whatever w taught may be 
taught in terms that are uniform everywhere. The report, 
moreover, is not presented as final, and is especially recom- 
mended to the criticism of teachers in the elementary schools. 
It is to be remarked that these teachers were not directly 
represented on the committees; and that, although this 
movement for uniformity may not touch them in any prac- 

^ See the recommendation in the Minnesota Bulletin No. 51, also the Iowa 
report on needed eliminations. 



134 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

tical way until publishers and superintendents begin to act 
upon the recommendations of the committee, nevertheless 
the movement does concern them, and should enlist their 
intelligent criticism in its experimental stage. 

It has been suggested that if grammar is to be taught in 
the elementary school the course of study must be planned 
(i) to emphasize the essentials for understanding; (2) to cor- 
relate very closely with practical language and composition 
work. Then this subject-matter must be taught in such a 
way as to insure logical thinking about it, and to contribute 
as directly as possible to correct and effective use of the 
English language. For the fortunate few who master their 
native tongue unconsciously through daily imitation of good 
English, no such scientific knowledge is needed to bolster up 
their practice. They may get from elementary Enghsh gram- 
mar some insight into the laws of language and some help- 
ful data for future study. But for most children in the 
grades, the science of grammar should be not theoretic but 
applied; and to this end it should be — what there is of it — 
.truly scientific; not wide but deep. 

SUMMARY 

1. The traditional reasons for teaching grammar in the elementary 

school are no longer sufficient to keep it there; the two most 
important of these — that it trains in logical thinking and that 
it contributes to correct use of English — have been challenged 
by recent experimenters. Hence all teachers of English in the 
grades should test the practical application of grammar to the 
oral and written speech of their pupils, and should not be satis- 
fied with mechanically following a text-book. 

2. The course of study should provide for thorough drill on a few 

troublesome forms in each grade; for constant application of 
grammatical knowledge in composition work; for emphasis of 
only those facts of sentence structure and word forms that can 
be made to contribute to correct and effective speech. 

3. In the upper grades grammatical facts should be presented in a 

logical order from basic facts to those that rest upon them; but 
they should never be divorced from use. 



GRAMMAR I35 

4. The subject-matter to be included should be determined partly by 

the kinds of mistakes made by children, and partly by the pos- 
sible application of a given grammatical notion to the improve- 
ment of their resources of expression. 

5. The chief requisites for successful teaching of grammar are a 

sensible plan of campaign and the thorough equipment of the 
teacher. 

6. The aim in the teaching of grammar is to supplement drill in 

good habits with a knowledge of reasons, and to give a ready 
recognition of the relations of words. The point of view is al- 
ways that language is the expression of thought. 
,7_^The chief motive of the children should be an increasing sense of 
mastery over their native tongue, as they are made to feel in- 
creasingly the need of such mastery. 

8. The teacher should have not Method but methods, being resource- 

ful in the adaptation of means to ends. In developing a new 
point induction should generally be used; in testing and apply- 
ing the new knowledge deduction is generally necessary. 

9. The most important general principle of grammar-teaching is that 

the pupils must be made to think. 

10. Analysis and diagramming may be made useful if they are simple 

in form, and appHed to sentences such as the pupils themselves 
may speak or write. Analysis that shows co-ordination and 
subordination of sentence elements is especially valuable, if not 
carried out in great detail. 

11. Definitions should be accurate and concise; summaries of facts 

learned, and touchstones for questionable usage. 

1 2. The pupils should be specifically taught how to define, and should 

be led to classify and differentiate for themselves both in gram- 
mar and in other fields. 

13. The vexed question of grammatical nomenclature is not yet set- 

tled; and every teacher should be informed as to the recent 
discussion and decisions with regard to this matter. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

I., Examine two texts in grammar intended for the grades, and com- 
pare them in plan, method of development, definitions, ter- 
minology, variety of exercises, and specific application of gram- 
matical facts to good usage and to composition work. 

2. Take some concise manual of good form in English composition, 
such as Woolley's "Handbook," and check every rule for sentence 
structure, usage, punctuation, or spelling that is based on gram- 



136 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

matical knowledge. Which of the above rules are important for 
children in the grades? Which are often broken by them? 

3. Make an outline for seventh or eighth year English work, showing 

the proportions of grammar and composition work, the subject- 
matter to be covered, and the correlation of the two kinds of 
material. If Latin, French, or German is to be introduced in the 
upper grades, as it is coming to be in many places, what additional 
facts about the grammar of English should be emphasized, if any ? 

4. Suggest six different exercises for impressing children in different 

grades with one matter of good form; e. g., the use of a period 
at the end of a declarative or an imperative sentence. These 
exercises may include games or any device suited to the kind of 
mistake to be corrected. 

5. Plan three lessons on the distinction between the past tense and 

the past participle of some verbs often misused, stating the 
grade or grades where these lessons are to be taught. 

6. Review Doctor Briggs's study in the Teachers College Record. Do 

you agree with his conclusions? 

TWO TABLES FROM MR. CHARTERS' STUDY OF 
GRAMMATICAL ERRORS ^ 

Made by Kansas City Children, Grades I to VII 

TABLE J 
rules to cover all tabulated errors 

1. The subject of a verb is in the nominative case. 

2. A substantive standing in the predicate, but describing or de- 
fining the subject, agrees with the subject in case, and is called a 
predicate nominative. 

3. The object of a verb is in the objective case. The substantive 
which follows a preposition is called its object and is in the objective 
case. 

4. {a) Most nouns form their plural by adding s or es to the singular. 
Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant change y to i and add es 
to form the plural. 

^ See also the section on this subject in the " Second Report of the Com- 
mittee on Elimination of Subject Matter — The Positive Program," printed by 
the Iowa State Teachers' Association, Professor G. M. Wilson, Ames, Iowa, 
chairman and distributor, also Professor Charters' suggested course based on 
children's errors, Sixteenth Year-Book of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, Public School PubHshing Co., Bloomington, III. 



GRAMMAR I37 

The words half, wife, knife, life, and a few others change f to v be- 
fore adding the suffix s or es. 

A few nouns form their plural in en. 

A few nouns form their plural by a change of vowel. 

A few nouns have the same form for singular and plural. 

The possessive case of most singular nouns is formed by adding ^5 
to the nominative. 

The feminine gender is often indicated by the ending ess. (Fre- 
quently when the masculine form ends in or or er, the feminine ends 
in ress.) 

Gender is sometimes indicated by the ending man, woman, maid, 
hoy, or girl. 

(b) Person is that form of a pronoun which shows whether it refers 
to the person speaking, the person addressed, or the person (or thing) 
spoken of. Thus, there are three persons. Pronouns, also, have 
number — singular and plural, the singular referring to one person 
(as /) and the plural referring to that one person jointly with one or 
more other persons (as we — I and one or more other persons). 

There is no change of form to denote the gender of the person 
speaking or the person spoken to, but there are forms to represent 
the difference in gender in the person or thing spoken of: he (if mascu- 
line gender), she (if feminine), and it (if lower animal or inanimate ob- 
ject). The plural of all genders of the third person is they. 

For case of pronouns, see i, 2, and 3 under this table. 

The compound personal pronouns are formed (a) in the first person 
by adding self to the possessive singular, selves to the possessive plural, 
(b) in the second person as in the first. 

(c) In the third by adding self to the objective singular, selves to 
the objective plural. 

These forms are to be used only after the occurrence of the cor- 
responding personal pronouns {e. g.: ''You yourself must go." "He 
hurt himself"). 

The relative pronoun who, like the personal pronouns, has dif- 
ferent forms for the different cases. Their use is like that of sub- 
stantives. (See Table J, i, 2, 3.) 

Of the relative pronouns, who refers to persons, which to animals 
and inanimate objects. That may have any antecedent. What takes 
the place of both antecedent and relative. 

5. In a series of nouns and pronouns the pronoun of the first per- 
son always stands last. 

6. A pronoun must agree with its noun in gender, number, and 
person. 

7. The demonstratives are this, plural these, and that, plural those. 



138 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

They may be used as adjectives or as pronouns. The personal pro- 
noun them is not used as an adjective. 

8. A verb must agree with its subject in number and person. If, 
in a compound subject, the substantives connected by or or nor differ 
in number or person the verb usually agrees with the nearer. 

9, 10, II. Verbs have forms of tense to indicate present, past, or 
future time. 

Weak verbs form the past by adding ed, d, or / to the present, some- 
times with change of vowel. Strong verbs form the past by changing 
the vowel of the present without an additional ending. 

The future tense is a verb phrase consisting of the auxiliary verbs 
shall or will followed by the infinitive without to. The past participle 
is that part of the verb form which is used after I have to form the 
perfect tense. 

Ought is a finite verb, not a participle and, therefore, cannot be used 
with have (had) to form compound tenses. 

12. Some verbs may be followed by a substantive denoting that 
which receives the action or is produced by it. These are called 
transitive verbs. All others are intransitive. 

Some transitive verbs take a secondary object denoting the person 
or thing toward whom or toward which the action of the verb is di- 
rected. 

May indicates permission, possibility, wish. Can indicates ability. 

In the first person shall, in the second and third will, indicates 
simple futurity. 

In the first person will, in the second and third shall, denote a prom- 
ise, threat, consent, or resolve, the volition always being that of the 
speaker. 

Should and would follow the same rules in use as do shall and will. 

13. Subjunctive forms are used in wishes, prayers, conditions, and 
concessions. They are rare except in the copula be. 

14. Double comparison is common in older English but now it is 
a gross error. 

The comparative degree of an adjective is usually formed by adding 
er to the positive. There are a few irregular forms. 

The superlative is usually formed by adding est. There are a few 
irregular forms. 

Many adjectives of two syllables, and most adjectives of three or 
more syllables, are compared by the use of more and most. 

15. The comparative and not the superlative is used in comparing 
two persons or things. 

The superlative is used to compare one person or thing with two or 
more others. 



GRAMMAR 1 39 

16. An adjective is a word which modifies a substantive. An ad- 
verb is a word which modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb. 

17. Modifiers should be placed as near as possible to the word or 
words they limit. No modifier should be inserted between to and its 
infinitive. 

18. Two negatives contradict each other and make an affirmative . 

19. Prepositions, also conjunctions, show various distinctions in 
use and meaning which must be learned by practice and the study of 
synonyms. 

20. Unnecessary words, after the meaning is made clear, should be 
avoided. 

21. Many words though pronounced alike have different functions 
to perform. The spelling usually varies according to the function. 

22. The end of a declarative and very often of an imperative sen- 
tence is marked by a period. 

23. The end of a direct question is marked by an interrogation- 
point. 

24. The possessive case of most singular nouns has ^s. Plural 
nouns ending in s add an apostrophe to denote possession. Plural 
nouns not ending in s take '5. 

25 and 26. A sentence must contain subject and predicate. 
27. A sentence is the expression of a complete thought. 

Capitalization 

1. Every sentence begins with a capital letter. 

2. Proper nouns and adjectives derived therefrom begin with cap- 
ital letters. 



The rules listed in Table J are broken by the children and should, 
therefore, from the point of view of this study, constitute the core of 
the course of study in grammar. But if these rules constitute the 
whole course the pupils cannot understand them without learning 
the meaning of subject and predicate, noun, pronoun, etc., which are 
themselves rules or definitions of grammar. Hence, the course of 
study must include not only the rules broken, but in addition thereto 
the rules and definitions necessary for an understanding of the broken 
rules. The complete list is worked out in Table K. 

Note by Editor: The assumption underlying this selection must be kept 
dear, that pupils will use such principles even if they do know them. Grammar 
is to be used as a tool to help children to correct speech. We have yet to 
discover the relative place of habit and of principles in such usage. It is 
safe to teach composition and use grammar only when needed. 



I40 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

TABLE K 

AN ANALYSIS OF THE GRAMMATICAL FACTS NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND 
THE RULES LISTED IN TABLE J 

The rules are indicated by the numbers used in Table J, rule i. 

Rule I. Rule i involves a knowledge of subject and predicate and, 
therefore, of the sentence. Subject involves a knowledge of noun 
and pronoun. Nominative case includes case and nominative case in 
pronouns. Predicate involves the use of the verb. 

Rule 2. This rule involves the copula, the expletive, and the pred- 
icate nominative as new facts. 

Rule 3. (i) The new elements in this rule are the object, objective 
case, and the transitive verb. 

(2) The preposition is introduced in 3 (2). 

Rule 4. (i) In rule 4 (a) are introduced number in nouns, gender 
in nouns, and the possessive case in nouns. 

(2) In rule 4 (6) is added case, person, gender, and number in per- 
sonal pronouns, the compound personal pronoun, case of relative 
pronouns, gender of relative pronouns, use of which and uses of what. 

Rule 5. Rule 5 introduces the conjunction. 

Rule 6. No new element is added. 

Rule 7. The new facts introduced are demonstrative adjectives and 
demonstrative pronouns. 

Rule 8. (i) Rule 8 (a) involves two new elements — person in verbs 
and number in verbs. 

(2) Rule 8 (b) adds the compound subject. 

Rule 9. The new facts included in the rules given under 9 are 
strong verbs, weak verbs, present tense, and past tense. 

Rule 10. Here is introduced the past participle, the perfect tense 
of the active voice, and all the tenses of the passive voice. 

Rule II. No new elements are added in rule 11. 

Rule 12. Rule 12 needs three new facts — the intransitive verb, the 
direct object (as such), and the indirect object. The auxiHaries can 
and may are introduced. Other new facts needed to understand 
rule 12 are the future tense, shall and will, as auxiliaries and should 
and would. 

Rule 13. This rule implies a knowledge of the subjunctive mood 
in the copula be. 

Rule 14. The supplementary facts needed in these rules are com- 
parison of adjectives. 

Rule 15. No new element is needed. 

Rule 16. The new facts introduced in rule 18 are the adverb and 
the comparison of adverbs. 



GRAMMAR I4I 

Rule 17. (a) No new element is needed, (b) The infinitive is here 
used. 

Rule 18. Introduces the double negative. 

Rule 19. In rule 19 no rule not already mentioned is needed. 

Rule 20. No new fact is needed in rule 20. 

Rule 21. No new grammatical fact is introduced. 

Rule 22. Rule 22 introduces the declarative and the imperative 
sentence. 

Rule 23. This rule introduces the interrogative sentence. 

Rule 24. No new element is added. 

Rule 25. No new element is added. 

Rule 26. No new element is added. 

Rule 27. Rule 27 introduces the dependent clause and the inde- 
pendent clause (as such). 

Capitalization, rule i involves nothing new. 

Capitalization, rule 2 involves a knowledge of proper nouns, of 
common nouns, and of proper adjectives. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 



1. Abbot, E. A.— "The Teaching of English Grammar," in Barnett's 

"Teaching and Organization." 

2. Bain, Alexander — "On Teaching English." 

3. Briggs, Thomas H. — "Formal English Grammar as a Discipline," 

Teachers College Record, September, 1913. 

4. Buck, Gertrude — " Make-Belie ve Grammar," in School Review, 

XVII, p. 21. 

5. Buehler, H. G. — "A Modern English Grammar." Newson & Co. 

6. Carpenter, Baker, and Scott— "The Teaching of English." 

7. Carpenter, G. R. — "Principles of English Grammar." 

8. Charters, W. W. — "Teaching the Common Branches." 

9. Chubb, Percival— "The Teaching of English." 

10. Gowdy, Chestine — "English Grammar." 

11. Green, Samuel S. — "An Analysis of the English Language." 

12. Kellner, Leon — "Historical Outlines of English Syntax." 

13. Kittredge and Farley — "Advanced English Grammar." 

14. Maetzner — "An English Grammar." (A mine of illustrations.) 

II 

15. Fish, Susan Anderson — "What Should Pupils Know in English 

When They Enter the High School?" in The English Journal, 
March, 1914. 



142 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

i6. Fitch, J. G.— "Lectures on Teaching, IX," "The English Lan- 
guage." 

17. Hinsdale, B. A. — "Teaching the Language Arts." 

18. Hoyt, Franklin S. — "The Place of Grammar in the Elementary 

School Curriculum," in Teachers College Record, November, 1906. 

19. Lang, S. E. — "Modern Teaching of Grammar," Educational Re- 

view, XXI, p. 294. 

20. McMurry, Charles A. — "Special Method in Language in the 

Eighth Grades." 

21. McMurry, Frank — "Elementary School Standards, Discussions 

of Teaching of Grammar and Language." 

22. Rapeer, L. W. — "The Problem of Formal Grammar in Elementary 

Education," Journal of Educational Psychology, March, 1913. 

Ill 

23. Bradley, Henry — "The Making of English." 

24. Emerson, G. F. — "History of the English Language." 

25. Greenough and Kittredge — "Words and Their Ways in English 

Speech." Macmillan Co. 

26. Lounsberry, T. R. — "History of the English Language." 

27. Sheffield, Alfred Dwight—" Grammar and Thinking." 

28. Starch, Daniel — "The Measurement of Ability in Grammar." 

Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin. 

29. Starch, Daniel — "Educational Measurement." Macmillan Co. 

30. Sweet, Henry — "A New English Grammar." 

31. White, R. G.— "Words and Their Uses." Houghton Mifflin Co. 

32. " '' —"Everyday English." Houghton Mifflin Co. 

33. Whitney, W. D. — "Essentials of English Grammar." 

34. WooUey, Edwin C. — "Handbook of Composition." D. C. Heath 

& Co. 

35. Report of the Joint Committee for Grammatical Nomenclature, 

National Education Association Bulletin, July, 1913. 

36. Report of the Committee on Elementary Course of Study of the 

Minnesota Educational Association, Bulletin No. 51. 

37. University of Missouri, Bulletin, vol. XVI, No. 2. "A Course of 

Study in Grammar," W. W. Charters and Edith Miller. 

38. Second Report of the Iowa State Teachers' Association on Mini- 

mum Essentials, Professor G. M. Wilson, Ames, Iowa. 



CHAPTER VI 

READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 
Preliminary Problems 

1. How and when did you learn to read? 

2. When does reading become a social factor in a child's life? Do 

people use oral or silent reading most in every-day life ? Why 
do we emphasize oral reading in school? 

3. What elements make a story or poem a child's favorite? What 

influence should this have on primary reading? 

4. How may the memory of a story or poem help early reading? 

How may it hinder? 

5. How may pointing to words develop a slow rate of reading? How 

may pointing be used helpfully? 

6. Can you justify a teacher in telling a child unknown words in a 

reading lesson ? Under what conditions ? 

7. According to what principles should teachers select words for 

drills? 

8. Name several ways in which dramatization may react upon 

reading. 

9. What study habits may the child gain from his primary reading 

and its accompanying seat work? 
10. Do you know how any particular child learned to read at home 
largely as play and stimulated principally by the desire to read 
stories? If so, how was it done? 

Persisting Problems.— The joy of a little child when he 
finds that he can read is a force which the teacher needs to 
appreciate. If she can keep this joy alive from the time 
when he first triumphs in his recognition of a few words until 
he leaves the fourth grade with the abiHty to read and enjoy 
the simple material adapted to his age, she will have done 
much for her pupil. "What has been the hardest thing about 
learning to read?" was asked of a fifth-grade boy who was 
just beginning to show some self-confidence in his reading, 
and whose work in the first grade had been satisfactory. 

143 



144 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

''Well, you see my second-grade teacher used to say things, 
and I've always been afraid, when I've tried to read, that my 
teacher would say things." Many tragedies of sensitive chil- 
dren would be averted, interest would be aroused, and efforts 
renewed, if, when the teacher began to "say things," she 
would seek to arouse joy in the stories read, and joy in each 
triumph shown in mastering the difficulties in the process. 

Primary teachers have developed great skill in the initial 
attack upon reading; teachers of beginners realize the need 
for careful study of their problems [7 : 64-70]. Teachers of 
second, third, and fourth grades have a much richer oppor- 
tunity in this field than they are aware of. In many instances 
their problems are the same as those of the teachers of be- 
ginners, differing in degree rather than in kind, but the added 
ability and maturity of the pupils open new possibilities for 
the reading recitation. 

In general, the teaching of reading divides itsielf into 
problems of thought and problems of form. The skilful 
teacher helps her pupils to keep the thought in mind, to de- 
velop and enjoy it, while at the same time she is guiding them 
in the mastery of "the words and word groups which convey 
the thought. Perhaps the safest single direction to give an 
inexperienced teacher is to keep trying in various ways to 
teach the children to read, and to repeat those ways which 
work best. There are many ways of accomplishing good 
results. 

Types of Readers. — The reading-books which the children 
use determine in large measure the results which may be 
obtained, but a good teacher will find ways of supplementing 
poor material, and a poor teacher will fail to get possible 
values from the best books. Three types of readers are in 
use in our schools to-day; each has its advantages and its 
dangers. 

Certain readers contain a definite method of teaching 
reading. Lists of words and phonic elements are carefully 
worked out, and the reading lessons are based upon these 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES I45 

lists. The definiteness of this plan appeals to many teachers. 
Successfully used, such readers make the pupils independent 
in their reading. A poor teacher cannot use them success- 
fully, however. The grave danger is that pupils will become 
mere word-callers, that little thinking will be done, and that 
results secured in expression will be poor. 

Another group of readers use repetition stories for all 
early work. These readers arouse interest, give children 
much to think about, and lend themselves to expressive read- 
ing. They give splendid opportunity for work with phrase 
groups, and for learning words through context. The great 
danger is that teachers will not train pupils to become inde- 
pendent in their reading; memory of the story often hides 
ignorance of words. Persistent effort will secure excellent 
results, however, and charming childlike interpretation will 
follow. 

A third group of readers present a variety of material, 
much of it based upon children's own experiences; poems and 
stories are mingled with accounts of real children and their 
various activities. Children read these accounts with a high 
degree of understanding, and with very natural expression. 
The variety of subject keeps interest keen. Vocabulary and 
sentence structure are likely to be simple and childlike. The 
dangers are that there may be a lack of literary quality, and 
that the pupil may not be led to think beyond his own ex- 
periences. Pupils are likely to become independent readers 
in using these books. 

The teacher needs to supplement any reader in all possible 
ways — by getting her school board to buy supplementary 
readers, by co-operating with libraries, by having pupils 
bring books and papers from home, by having older pupils 
rewrite stories for younger ones, by her own blackboard 
lessons [6 : 260-300; 10 : 36-80]. 

Getting Acquainted with the Text. — The reader used as a 
basic text is to be a source of inspiration and joyful activity 
for the children. The teacher needs to know the text in order 



146 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

to plan her lessons intelligently. She should read it through 
first as a whole, thinking of the interests and activities of the 
children as she reads, planning special lessons for special 
occasions, perhaps, but mainly getting the atmosphere of the 
stories and poems. Some lessons will suggest the flowers and 
fruits, birds and bees, which mark the passing seasons. So 
the teacher will plan to have her children observe and talk 
about these beauties of nature. Other lessons deal with 
dolls and carts, suggesting a doll day or a parade. Others are 
related to circus day or Christmas. The stories will arouse 
the dramatic instinct, the poems will appeal to the love of 
rhyme and rhythm. So the teacher plans as she gives this 
first rapid reading, but the detailed plans for individual les- 
sons are of slower growth. In some books there may be 
lessons which the wise teacher will omit, realizing that they 
are not worth reading. 

Planning to Complete the Text. — A term's work or a 
year's work may be represented by the text. The teacher 
may well have in mind from the first the amount which she 
will try to cover in the first month, the second, and so on. 
At the beginning of the year the children work slowly; they 
need much easy supplementary reading; blackboard lessons 
will be especially helpful. Yet even here they must not be 
allowed to drag, ways must be discovered to cover ground 
enough so that the children will know that they are progressing. 

During the middle of the term progress is steady. There 
are discouraging days, but the teacher must steadily forge 
ahead, requiring persistent work by the children. The re- 
reading of the easier stories during this period will help the 
children to gain in fluency, and will lead the teacher to appre- 
ciate their accomphshment. 

By the last month of the term a dangerous fluency may 
have been acquired, unless the teacher is watchful to give 
the children new ways of attacking the lessons; then the more 
fluent reading becomes a great aid. Some teachers reserve 
certain lessons in the basic reader for this last month, so that 




Various phases of an experiment in motivated learning to read at Teachers 
College, Columbia University, New York 




Printing labels for toy houses, stores, and other objects of the classroom. 
Courtesy of Professor Annie E, Moore 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 1 47 

there shall be fresh material even to the end. This is prob- 
ably better planning than hurrying through the text and 
spending all the last month in review, though there will be 
much review during the year. 

Securing Variety of Motive. — The energy of a pupil's 
attack upon his reading lesson depends largely upon the value 
which he believes it possesses for him. In order to keep his 
interest alive so that he is ready to expend a high degree of 
energy in accomplishing his work, a variety of motives must 
be presented for his reading from day to day. He reads so 
that he may act, may express by pantomime or dramatization 
the author's thought. He reads so that he may enjoy the 
story or poem, the teacher often measuring his enjoyment by 
his expressive reading or by the lighting up of his face. He 
reads in order to recall experience or to learn from the experi- 
ence of others. He reads at times for the purpose of sharing 
with others the delights of his book, reading to an audience 
at home or at school the lesson which he has mastered. Again 
he reads in order to illustrate by drawings the author's thought, 
to sing the musical poem. He reads frequently for the sense 
of mastery, of power, which links him with all educated peo- 
ple. It is a splendid thing to be able to read, and emphasis 
needs to be laid upon the power which it brings. 

The teacher may not be able to determine which of these 
motives is impelling the pupil to master his reading, but she 
can determine the motive which her questions and sugges- 
tions will seek to arouse. Time spent by the teacher in study- 
ing the motive for a lesson or series of lessons is exception- 
ally well spent; the alert, attentive work of the pupils as they 
press forward under the stimulus of an appealing motive 
proves this. The pupils expend their energy in search for 
something worth while for them; they do not need to be 
driven to work. 

Training in Organizing Ideas. — The use which a pupil 
makes of the ideas presented to him in his reading determines 
the value to him of his reading. Many ideas occurring m 



148 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

his lessons are very clear to him, relating themselves to his 
every-day life — home, playtime, holidays, the beautiful nature 
world about him. Other ideas are new to him, and the 
teacher knows they need careful explanation. Many ideas 
which are so common that the teacher supposes they are 
understood, prove to be stumbling-blocks, however. It is 
impossible for intelligent reading to be done unless the pupils 
have clear ideas of the conditions of which they are reading. 

One of the best means for clarifying ideas is to organize 
them, to find their relations to one another. In a reading 
lesson this needs to be done by working more with the related 
experiences in the text than with the outside experiences of 
the pupils, enough of the latter being discussed to help in 
interpretation. 

In real life certain things, certain events, naturally go to- 
gether. In a reading lesson these natural relationships are 
found and help in organizing the material. Even the simple 
lessons of our primers show this, and first-grade children can 
discover the related ideas, can suggest the ideas they will 
look for. A dainty picture in one of our primers shows three 
little girls standing about a tiny table at which several dolls 
are seated. One girl has a large doll in her arms, a second 
girl holds three small dolls. The picture itself suggests 
a party. The question naturally comes: ''Who is having 
this party?" The first sentence answers it: ''I am having 
a party. '^ Another question follows: ''Who are the other 
little girls ? " A search through the page discovers the names 
Alice and Helen. " How can we tell which is Alice and which 
is Helen ? " Again the text tells : ' ' Alice has three little dolls. 
Helen has one big doll." The invitation, the food, the games 
played, are all discussed, and in this way the entire reading 
lesson is covered. Not a sentence is read except in response 
to some question arising from the central idea — the party. 
No attempt is made to have the sentences read in sequence, 
the sentences describing Alice and Helen being near the 
bottom of the page, yet being read almost at first. A second 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 149 

reading of the lesson in sequence follows as the period 
closes. 

Put together those ideas which belong together. Train 
pupils to do this. Help them to find natural divisions in the 
story, to read together those sentences which belong together. 
Teach children to find a sentence which tells an important 
fact, or suggests surprise or suspense, then to read all those 
sentences which lead up to or grow out of such a sentence. 

Varying Importance of Parts. — Some characters, pictures, 
or events in a story stand out as essential, the others are de- 
tails which serve as a background. Discussion should gen- 
erally centre upon the essentials, these parts should be dwelt 
upon far more than the relatively unimportant. Children 
may be asked to name or list the important characters, those 
of less importance; to draw a picture of an important scene; 
to dramatize one of the most interesting parts. In working for 
expressive reading, sentences or paragraphs in which surprise, 
suspense, or climax appear should receive the most attention. 

It is not uncommon for a teacher in planning a reading 
lesson to look for probable difficulties, perhaps expecting to 
spend a greater proportion of time upon a paragraph which 
bristles with hard words. Her attention would better be 
given to those parts which have the most influence upon the 
spirit of the story, which give color and character to the 
whole [11 : 82-84]. 

What Pupils May Do with a Lesson. — ^The cut-and-dried 
reading lesson is gradually disappearing as new types of les- 
sons are evolved. There are times when the choice of treat- 
ment of the entire lesson may be left to the class. Shall we 
read this lesson silently or dramatize it? What would you 
like to do during the reading period to-day? Such choice 
means that the pupils have had experience with different 
types of lessons, so that their choice is made intelligently. 

Again a lesson may be assigned to a group of pupils to 
plan and give to the class in any way they may choose. The 
greater the variety of treatment when the teacher is direct- 



150 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

ing the class, the more versatile the groups will be when this 
responsibility is given them. They should be held to earnest 
effort in pleasing their audience. 

When pupils are given opportunity to bring from home 
and read to the class such reading material as they believe 
the class will enjoy, provision is made for much exercise of 
initiative. Here, too, pupils need to be required to prepare 
carefully the stories which they present. 

In every reading lesson of any type pupils should be en- 
couraged to ask questions and pass judgment without wait- 
ing for prompting by the teacher. Guidance will be needed 
to prevent disorder, and at first to help in framing worthy 
questions. A skilful teacher will soon provide for these, 
however, and will be surprised at the intelligent response 
which pupils will make when the way is opened. 

Utilizing Pupils' Experiences. — The better the teacher 
understands her pupils, the more opportunities she will find 
for relating the reading material to their interests, for help- 
ing them to find comradeship in the lessons. This lesson fits 
some children especially, another suits a different group a 
little better. This one appeals to children's sense of humor, 
that to their sympathy, a third to their love of family and 
playmates. At times the experience of one member of a 
class illuminates a point for all of the others, again the lesson 
fits a common experience. 

When once the riches of a story have been opened up for 
the class, the story should be referred to by the teacher from 
time to time, the characters and events should become 
thought currency with an abiding value. 

The Reading Vocabulary. — During the first months, the 
growth of the reading vocabulary is slow, but in the second 
half of the first year more rapid mastery is gained, and in 
the second and third years comes still more rapid progress. 
Fourth-grade pupils should have a large reading vocabulary, 
though there will still be need for much sensible work in word 
mastery. The teacher needs to select with care those words 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES I51 

and word groups for which she will hold the class responsible, 
those for which the stronger pupils only will be held, and 
those which she will tell. Pupils must gain in independence, 
yet they must not be kept at work on uninteresting material 
because they lack in technical word mastery. Fresh material 
and new types of drill will help in gaining independence. 
Emphasis upon the words and word groups which a child 
knows, praise for the gains made, will prove a stimulus to 
renewed effort [11 : 4-6, 52-56]. 

Reaching Words Through Context. — Recognition of words 
during the thinking process of reading in such a way as to 
have them contribute to that thinking, is a necessity if read- 
ing is to be intelligent. It is therefore necessary to give 
training in the use of the context thought as an aid in word 
recognition. In all reading there is a reaching forward, an 
expecting in the thinking process. Training a child to make 
use of this expectancy in thinking out a new word, is training 
in getting a word through the context. What do you expect 
the story to say? Where do you think the hen hid her nest? 
What would the boys do in the garden? Such questions 
help to carry the thought forward and suggest the needed 
word. At times a pupil reads into the text a sjoionym for 
the word in the text. This is an evidence that he is think- 
ing as he reads and seldom needs correction [11 : 156-158* 
6 : 348-351]- 

Presentation of New Words. — Many words may be 
taught most quickly by thoughtful use of the lesson as it 
occurs on the page. A picture of children carrying an um- 
brella suggests not only the words children and umbrella, but 
rain and storm also. These ideas are all famiHar ones, the 
picture forms a connecting-hnk, all that is necessary is for 
the pupils to find the words on the page. The very fact that 
the children have these words in mind helps them in their 
search. Whatever knowledge of phonics they have, helps in 
this word recognition. 

Some words are most economically drilled upon in pairs 



152 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

or in groups. No word should be taught which does not re- 
late to some experience of the children. Contrast is one of 
the strongest factors to use in teaching words, so lists of 
opposites may well be used for drill: 



yes 


boy 


father 


up sleep 


come 


little 


good 


fast 


no 


girl 


mother 


down wake 


go 


big 


bad 


slow 



It is economy also to teach together words which stand for 
related ideas: mother, baby, love, sing; egg, nest, bird, tree; 
seed, plant, garden. Another advantage is gained by teach- 
ing as units those word groups which most frequently occur: 
good morning, good-by; a Httle girl (boy, kitten); in the 
house (garden, tree); there is; once upon a time. 

There was a time when the teacher was supposed to weave 
into story form all words presented in lists. This is waste 
effort. The essentials are for the children to have the idea, 
to relate the idea to the printed word, to make the connec- 
tion frequently enough so that it becomes automatic. The 
day's book lesson may or may not be the unit for word work. 
By using lists of opposites, series of related words, and common 
word groups, the word work will at times go more rapidly 
than the reading lessons. 

Phonic Work. — There are three phases of phonic work: 
training the ear to recognize sounds; training the voice to 
make them; training the eye to recognize their symbols. 
The first two may well precede the third. Perhaps the most 
natural sounds for children to imitate, those which lead to 
the most unconscious use of the vocal organs, are the sounds 
made by the animals and machines with which the child is 
in daily contact: buzz, buzz; cluck, cluck ; chug, chug. Later 
the sight words which they have learned may be grouped, and 
the common phonic elements taught. Work at first with ini- 
tial consonants only: s, k, t, p, m,f, r. Later use common 
phonograms: ate, est, at, an, ight, ay. 

As soon as a phonic element is taught, the pupils may 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 1 53 

give words which begin with it. The element itself may be 
presented on the blackboard or on a card, the words may be 
given orally only. Later will come word building. Use the 
phonics in the reading lessons as early as possible after they 
are taught. Turn to a familiar story and say: ''I find a word 
which begins with /." Let the children find the word and 
name it. Gradually make use of this knowledge in attacking 
new words in the reading lesson [10 : 102-123]. 

Other Means of Recognizing Words. — A body of knowl- 
edge is being accumulated showing how the eye recognizes 
words. Difference in length is one factor. Other things 
being equal, the eye distinguishes more rapidly between a 
long and a short word than between two short words: big, 
little present a greater contrast than man, fan. Height of 
letters is another factor, letters which extend above and be- 
low the line being more readily recognized than single-space 
letters: little, pretty have more character than are, run. The 
first and last parts of a word are more quickly noticed than 
the middle: ham, wonder have difficulties, or and on. Call 
attention to those features which attract the eye most readily, 
have patience with the difficult parts [i I : 125-135; 6 : 96-101]. 

Essentials of Drill. — Drills must be very short in order 
to hold the attention of pupils; from three to five minutes is 
long enough. Fatigue sets in after a very few minutes, and 
loss of energy results. Drills should be rapid. The eye 
recognizes words very rapidly, and this rapid recognition 
should be cultivated. The class must (i) focus attention upon 
the work, (2) repeat the words or phonic elements with atten- 
tion, (3) give the correct response each time. In general, it 
is better to have individual rather than concert responses, 
the children answering in turn so that no time shall be wasted 
in calling names. When an incorrect answer is given, call 
upon the class for the correct answer. Get back several times 
to the child who makes a mistake, until th.e right response 
seems fixed. Be patient with the slow child, give him the 
easier words. Let children select and point to the words 



154 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

which they know. Challenge the stronger pupils to name the 
entire list [6 : 52-60]. 

Motivated Reviews. — Every time that a story is reread 
attentively, recognition of the words is more rapid, and the 
reading is smoother. The motives of enjoyment, of drama- 
tization, of sharing may suggest such rereadings. Certain 
texts have review pages so arranged as to recall the lessons 
already read, while at the same time appealing to the puzzle 
instinct, the rhyming instinct, the delight in voice play. 
Some teachers are able to plan delightful reviews of this type, 
using the blackboard for their presentation. The use of sup- 
plementary readers often makes it possible to read another 
version of a favorite story. 

New Context Relationships. — The new word may be sug- 
gested by a picture, found in the text, drilled upon in the 
drill period, and recognized more readily in the motivated 
review. Each of these steps is essential. The final test, 
however, is the recognition of the word in new context rela- 
tions. Proper gradation of the basal text and the use of 
simple, attractive supplementary readers will provide for this 
test. In selecting supplementary readers, attention must be 
paid to the vocabulary of each. Fortunately a number of 
charming readers are on the market, containing interesting 
stories told in childHke language, and using over and over 
again the fundamental words of the child's early reading 
vocabulary. Needed fluency and sense of power come as a 
class finds itself able to take set after set of these simple books 
and read their delightful contents. Gradually the words be- 
come, as they should, but the tools of thought, they are recog- 
nized reflexly, and the pupils become eager, independent 
readers. 

Planning for Variety of Material. — ^The story, the poem, 
informational lessons, dramatizations are all found in the 
reading material — if not in the basic text, then in the sup- 
plementary readers and blackboard lessons. Exclusive use 
of any one kind of material is likely to produce a surfeit, 




Printing labels for their houses. An experiment in reading. Teachers 
College Record, September, 19 16 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 1 55 

some child may not respond as readily to one kind as to 
another. The treatment of these lessons emphasizes the 
difference between fact and fancy, between diction which 
lends itself to musical reading and that which may be read 
silently and told, as well as read orally. Experiences of the 
class may be developed into reading material in the language 
period. Older classes may rewrite in dramatic form for 
younger classes some of the fine fables and fairy-stories. 

Types of Lessons. — The first lesson with a new selection 
should frequently be a study recitation. In this the teacher 
helps the children to find problems for themselves, to ask 
questions, to discover the essential parts. Frequently the 
problems and questions become the assignment for the next 
study period, and their answers form the basis for the recita- 
tion period following. Another recitation may consist of 
work upon dramatic oral reading of sections best adapted for 
expressive reading. Informational lessons may be read 
silently, the class discussing the facts as they read, or each 
reading at his own pace and questioning the teacher as he 
finds it necessary [6 : 75-87]. 

Seat Work and Study Periods. — The pupil needs to make 
a companion of his book, to browse over it by himself. In 
some way the assignment for seat work or study needs to direct 
him so that he shall attack his book with some definite work 
to do. This may be either preparation for a class recitation, 
or the outgrowth of a previous recitation. Essentials should 
be dwelt upon, organizing ideas should be worked over; judg- 
ment, reason, fancy, humor — all should come into play. 
The assignment may deal with form as well as with thought, 
with words as well as with ideas. Whatever is given the 
pupil to do at his seat, care should be taken that he under- 
stands what is required. He should be trained to attack his 
work promptly and energetically, and in some way use should 
be made of his results [6 : 1 06-1 11]. 

Accomplishment in Lesson Periods. — The purpose of a 
reading lesson is for the pupils to grow in reading abihty. 



156 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The teacher must see that pupils keep the place, follow the 
thought, help one another with difficulties of thought and 
form. Some questioning and discussion are necessary in 
order to illuminate the author's thought, to relate it to the 
experiences of the pupils. The lesson should not degenerate, 
however, into mere discussion and exchange of experience; 
the reading is the essential activity. Push the work with 
vigor, do not fuss over minor points, be certain that the main 
ideas are expressed clearly. It seems a miracle almost when 
this steady, effective work is carried on without strain, time 
being taken to enjoy the bits of humor or fancy; yet such a 
pace combined with the atmosphere of leisure is possible. 
The teacher to whom the lesson appeals as a literary whole 
will see to it that the end is reached during the lesson period, 
she herself or a strong pupil reading the final paragraph if 
time presses [11 : 106-108]. 

Working for Expression. — Children are naturally dra- 
matic, every class has some who are leaders in this line. By 
selecting with care those parts of the reading lesson which 
are most fitted for dramatic expression, by getting the pupils 
into the spirit of such parts, by utilizing the ability of the 
leaders, good expression may be obtained. There should be 
no servile imitation, but the teacher and better pupils may 
set a standard. Care needs to be taken that the leaders 
themselves develop in their rendering. There is danger of 
their becoming self-satisfied. The reading of poems should 
receive more careful attention than is usual, the musical dic- 
tion, rhyme, and rhythm all being recognized. Natural, child- 
like expression is all that is asked, but it should be intelligent 
and pleasing. 

The Slow Child and the Slow Class. — Speed in reading is 
a desirable factor and we need to train for it. Certain chil- 
dren have greater difficulties than others. They frequently 
become discouraged and effort ceases. A class which has had 
poor teaching may be a puzzle to a good teacher, for it is 
hard to find what they know. In both cases use simple read- 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 1 57 

ing SO far as possible, call on the slow child for the easier sen- 
tences. Give much encouragement whenever a word or a 
sentence is mastered. The teacher may read a new lesson to 
the slow class, they following in their own books with eyes and 
fingers, she calling on them to name certain words as she 
progresses, or to reread paragraphs or sentences after her. 
Later they read the lesson for themselves. Rapid drills on 
common words are necessary, but should not be depended 
upon altogether. 

Measuring Results. — Standards in rate of reading and in 
thought-getting are rapidly being developed. Doctor Thorn- 
dike, for example, has published a very valuable scale for 
measuring the progress and results in reading, and very satis- 
factory and practical standards will soon be perfected by 
experiment, adaptation, and wide use. Every teacher of 
reading should possess the Thorndike or other satisfactory 
scale, the same as she possesses and uses handwriting and 
spelling scales, and should learn to use it in her work. This 
is her opportunity to help make teaching a science and a 
profession instead of a rule-of-thumb trade. Moreover, pres- 
ent subjective standards should be utiHzed. The teacher 
needs to cultivate her judgment and appreciation of good work 
in reading by visiting other classes and having others criti- 
cise her work. She needs to set herself to determining whether 
her pupils are strong and rapid in thought-getting, reasonably 
charming in oral reading, independent in attacking words, 
happy in their growing power of accomplishment, and inter- 
ested in the stories and other thought content provided for 
their instruction and enjoyment. 

SUMMARY 

1. Reading is concerned with problems of thought and problems of 

form. 

2. The teacher needs to know her reader as a whole, both strong 

and weak points. 

3. Reading motives should be varied in order to keep interest keen. 



158 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

4. Intelligent reading is secured by discussing the thought pre- 

sented in the text. 

5. Reading lessons should be related to the experiences of pupils and 

should lead them into new lines of activity. 

6. New words should generally be presented first in their context, 

then tested in drills, and so gradually become part of the work- 
ing vocabulary. 

7. Phonics should include ear, voice, and eye training. 

8. The pupil needs to attack his reading lessons in different ways 

from day to day. 

9. Assignments for study should be definite and within the student's 

ability. 
10. Results are shown in knowledge of vocabulary, rate of reading, 
grasp of thought, and natural, childlike expression. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

I.' Examine two or more primary readers, classifying by titles and 
pages the selections which relate to children's varied interests 
and activities; e. g., games, seasons, holidays. 

2. Classify the words and word groups on a primer page under these 

headings: 

(i) Words pupils should know instantly. 

(2) Words strong pupils may know. 

(3) Unknown words to be reached through context. 

(4) Unknown words to be reached through sounds. 

(5) Unknown words to be told by teacher. 

3. Divide a long story from a third or fourth reader into its main 

parts, giving each part a fitting name which would attract a 
chUd. 

4. Make note during one day of the sounds you hear made by animals, 

machines, and children. How could these be utilized in phonic 
work? In expressive reading? 

5. Study several long stories in primary readers. List three or four 

sentences from each which need especial attention in oral 
reading; several from each which are most essential for the 
understanding of the story. 

6. From the vocabulary of any primer select those words which are 

opposites. Which of these could be taught in relation to chil- 
dren's schoolroom activities? 

7. Examine several primers and list the word groups which occur 

most frequently in each. How many of these groups are com- 
mon idiomatic expressions? Could they be used as units in 
spelling as well as in reading? 



READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 1 59 

8. Visit a popular bookstore and examine the books for children 

which are offered for sale. Note their literary value, hygiene 
of type and page, and artistic features. Visit the children's 
department of your public library and make the same notes. 
What practical means could be taken to improve the character 
of the books offered for sale? 

9. When visiting homes in which there are primary children note 

the amount and suitability of the reading material at their 
disposal. What companionship in reading does the home 
afford? 

10. Have pupils bring in daily from home for a week five or ten words 

which they know, which they have cut from newspaper headings 
or advertisements. Let them mount these words on cards, 
fourth-grade pupils first arranging theirs in alphabetical order. 
•What effect does this seem to have on their interest in words? 
Why? 

11. Measure several series of readers as to size of type and width of 

leading, and compare with the standards given in the appendix.^ 
^ Appendix under Hygiene of Readers. 

12. In visiting motion-picture productions note when and how the 

films provide for looking into the future, for recalling the past. 
How may these opportunities be made use of in a reading les- 
son? 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Special Helps in Method 

1. Arnold— "Reading, How to Teach It." Silver Burdett Co. In- 

spirational exposition of spirit of reading with much specific 
• help in method. 

2. Carpenter, Baker, and Scott — "The Teaching of English." Long- 

mans, Green & Co., 1903. Chapter II. Historical evolution of 
reading methods discussed, with formulation of principles un- 
derlying present-day material and methods. 

3. Chubb — "The Teaching of English." The Macmillan Co., 1908. 

Chapters VI and VII. Fine discussion of material for reading, 
helpful general suggestions as to method. 

4. Finley — "Blackboard Work in Reading." Benj. H. Sanborn & 

Co., 1913. Blackboard lessons based on children's experiences. 
Especially strong in progressive development of vocabulary. 

5. Freeman — "The Psychology of the Common Branches." Hough- 

ton Mifflin Co. 



l6o TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

6. Gray, W. S. — '* Measurement of Reading " in the Cleveland Sur- 

vey and articles in the Elementary School Journal and elsewhere. 

7. Huey — "The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading." The Mac- 

millan Co., 1908. The classic authority on historic and modern 
methods and scientific experimentation. 

8. Jenkins — ''Reading in the Primary Grades." Houghton Mifflin 

Co., 191 5. Concrete, practical suggestions for grades i tt) 5 
based on modern investigation. 

9. Judd — ''Measuring the Work of the Public Schools." Russell 

Sage Foundation. 

10. Kendall and Mirick — "How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects." 

Houghton Mifflin Co. 

11. Klapper — "Teaching Children to Read." D. Appleton & Co., 

191 5. A clear presentation of historic and modern methods. 
Helpful work on phonics. 

12. Laing — "Reading: A Manual for Teachers." D. C. Heath & Co., 

1908. Inspirational as to aims of reading. Simple explana- 
tions of scientific experiments and their import. 

13. McMurry, LidaB. (Mrs.) — "Method for Teaching Primary Read- 

ing." The Macmillan Co., 1914. Games as the basis of black- 
board reading; other sources of blackboard work. Emphasis 
on reading habits. 

14. Monroe — "Cyclopaedia of Education," articles on "Reading, Hy- 

giene of; Reading, Psychology of; Reading, Teaching Begin- 
ners." 

15. Starch — "Educational Measurements." The Macmillan Co. 

16. Wilson and Wilson — "Motivation of School Work." Houghton 

Mifflin Co. 



CHAPTER VII 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 

Preliminary Problems 

1. What percentage of pupils, as you know them, can be excused in 

fourth and later grades from reading lessons as such, thus con- 
fining themselves to such reading as is necessary to the study 
of other lessons ? Would it be desirable to do so for any, or all ? 

2. If silent reading is the type of reading most used in hfe and if 

continued practice in oral reading slows up the process of 
silent reading, why not have most reading done silently in the 
upper grades? 

3. If Hterature is not taught as a separate subject to any great extent 

and if history, geography, civics, hygiene, moral education, 
manual education, and other subjects are too lacking in emo- 
tional, literary elements for cultivating ideals and apprecia- 
tions, cannot most of the desirable Hterature be correlated 
with these subjects? 

4. What literary selections could be used in the upper grades to 

develop ideals and appreciations of (i) citizenship on the child's 
plane? See "A Course in Citizenship" by Cabot and others, 
for example. (Houghton Mifflin Co.) 

5. What Hterary selections can be used to contribute ideals and en- 

thusiasms for (2) good health and a fine physique, for clean 
sport and a clean life ? 

6. What selections actually do change pupils emotionally in the 

direction, also, of the ideals needed for (3) vocational efficiency 
in and out of the home, for (4) avocational, or recreational, effi- 
ciency, and for (5) moral efficiency? 

7. Which of the five social aims of education named above and in 

Chapter I is most influenced by ''The King of the Golden 
River," as read in class or otherwise? By other selections? 

8. What literature have you seen that would counteract such ideals 

as that of ''bullying" smaller boys on the playground? 

9. What is the best scale for measuring ability in sflent reading? 

-e. What success have we had in constructing an oral reading scale? 

161 



l62 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

I. The Reading Problem 

The problem of reading, i. e., the interpretation of the 
page with accuracy and with reasonable speed, remains the 
same, irrespective of the grade or the department of the school 
in which the subject is taught. There is, however, a disposi- 
tion on the part of many teachers, particularly in the inter- 
mediate and grammar grades, to confuse the values of read- 
ing and Kterature. Literature as such is not taught primarily 
for its habit-forming or informational values, while reading is. 
The fundamental purpose of beginning reading is that of 
training children in the facile recognition, use, and interpreta- 
tion of words and sentences; later reading becomes the pri- 
mary intellectual instrument for the acquisition of informa- 
tion. Both literature and reading have certain conventional 
and discipHnary values, but instruction in them is not justi- 
fied wholly for these reasons. Literature, considered as the 
finest of the fine arts, is one of the chief sources, also, for the 
development of ideals; but this outcome is only incidental to 
reading. 

How appreciation for literature can best be developed has 
long been one of the mooted questions in education. If one 
were to take current practice as the criterion, he would say 
that the best way to accomplish this is by a study of literary 
technic. Selections ranging in value from the poorest to the 
very best, both in poetry and in prose, are analyzed, appar- 
ently, for the exclusive purpose of giving a knowledge of liter- 
ary construction. It is doubtful if literary appreciation will 
ever be secured by this means. Some knowledge of the 
technical phases of hterary structure are essential to literary 
appreciation, but any attempt to secure this appreciation 
through analysis only is likely to be futile. Some selections 
are so delicate in structure and subtle in sentiment that it 
seems almost sacrilegious to subject them to literary analysis. 
Appreciation may be secured for any art: (i) by an analysis 
and understanding of its fundamental principles (this to be 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 1 63 

secured by a study of examples perfect in structure, but of 
ordinary sentimental value), and (2) by placing one in an 
environment saturated with the best types of art, e. g., the 
best music must be heard over and over, the most beautiful 
pictures must be seen again and again, and the most perfect 
works of literary art must be read and reread. The things 
one sees, hears, and reads eventually sink into his soul and 
become a constituent part of his character. 

Oral Reading and Silent Reading. — The desire to culti- 
vate an appreciation for good literature accounts in part for 
the introduction of so much supplementary material of a 
literary character in the intermediate and grammar grades. 
Complete Hterary selections or parts of masterpieces now 
constitute the bulk of the collateral material used. Such selec- 
tions lend themselves to oral reading. But most of the mate- 
rial in the readers and in the other text-books of the school 
was never intended to be read aloud. It was written to 
convey information. Unfortunately, the practice of having 
practically all selections read aloud prevails in most sections 
of the United States. It would be far better and of much 
greater educative value if a teaching technic were developed 
for silent reading so that all material of a strictly informa- 
tional character could be read accurately and with great speed. 
There is no one thing that would pay greater dividends in 
the economy of mental life, for it has been estabUshed that 
there is a direct relationship between one's retentiveness and 
his speed in reading. As a rule, slow readers are forgetful 
readers, while rapid readers are retentive readers. A direct 
and positive relation exists between speed and accuracy in 
reading when one reads with a maximum degree of concen- 
tration. Children should be taught to read as fast as they 
can and as accurately as they can. 

Oral Reading and Its Criticism. — The traditional practice 
is to have selections read paragraph by paragraph, and to 
have the reading criticised. The criticisms are often of a 
most useless character, such as: ''She didn't pause at the 



164 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

comma," ''She didn't let her voice fall at the period," "She 
said wuz for was," and the like. Unless these criticisms are 
valid, and the reader is compelled to correct his faults then 
and there, nothing of value is likely to result from them. But 
suppose a teacher were to say to a class: ''Now, to-morrow I 
want each of you to choose for oral reading the funniest part 
of the story, or the most interesting part of the story, or the 
part which would be of the greatest value to old people. You 
must be able to read it to show that it is funny, or interesting, 
or of great worth." With such instructions as these in mind 
no child would think of preparing himself to read the entire 
selection aloud; he would omit the explanatory parts that do 
not lend themselves to oral reading. Will anything be lost 
if different children have different ideas as to what is funny, 
or interesting, or of great value to old people? Is not that 
exactly what the teacher should expect? And will it not 
furnish her with the only natural basis for intelligent criti- 
cisms ? Now, the reading of those who have chosen the same 
part can be compared, or it can be contrasted with those who 
have chosen different parts. Criticism under such a condi- 
tion would be rational, full of interest and meaning. In order 
to present their parts effectively the children would have an 
incentive for oral practice. 

By the time children have reached the intermediate grades 
it is presumed that they have acquired a mastery of the 
mechanics of reading. They should now know how to read. 
It does not follow that they are therefore good readers. In- 
deed we know that constant and unremitting attention must 
still be given to word drills. But articulation, enunciation, 
and pronunciation drills now become more characteristic of 
class work than drills upon sight words or phonograms. 

Intermediate-Grade Reading and Retardation. — Some of 
the recent studies on retardation seem to have a bearing upon 
the problem of intermediate-grade reading. These studies 
have estabhshed the fact that the retards are congested in the 
third, fourth, and fifth grades. School superintendents, recog- 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 165 

nizing this fact, have been casting about to find some means 
of reducing the amount of retardation. Among other things 
that have been tried with varying success, has been the plan 
of introducing more reading of an informational and concrete 
character in these grades. Our school readers are sadly defi- 
cient in this sort of material. All pupils, and particularly 
boys of the intermediate-grade age, have a growing interest 
in material reality. They want to know how things are made. 
In some of the Indianapolis schools where reading material 
of this sort has been introduced there has been a marked 
decrease in the various forms of grade dehnquency. Certainly 
this experiment is well worth trying in other schools. 

The argument presented in the preceding paragraph must 
not be construed as an argument for omitting the better types 
of hterature from our readers. They must be retained, but 
for other reasons. 



II. Aids to Reading 

Aids to Reading: Position. — Important as the matter of 
position is in reading, it can easily be overemphasized. 
"There is no surer way of producing all that is not wanted 
in a recitation than to let a class rise in the same way; use 
their hands, heads, legs, in the same way; smile, wink, ogle, 
start, plunge, stamp, snort, snifif, yawn, stare, and fool in the 
same way. They cease to be a class; they are a hydra- 
headed automaton." Neither this condition nor that where 
the class is given unrestricted liberty is the right point of 
view; it must he somewhere in between these extremes. 

The rules to be followed in securing a satisfactory posi- 
tion are few and simple. Children should be required to 
rise quickly and quietly when called upon, and to stand rea- 
sonably still. There is no excuse for weaving backward and 
forward, for shuffling the feet, for twisting the body, inter- 
lacing the fingers, or twiddling with pencils. An upright 
position should be demanded. This brings the chest forward 



1 66 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

makes the reading easier, and gives a sort of dignity to read- 
ing not always obtained in the elementary schools. 

Teachers should give special attention to the position of 
the book. While no absolute rule should be laid down with 
reference to the hand in which the book should be held, in 
every instance it should be held so as to secure the best light 
and thus avoid eye-strain. The child with normal eyes will 
get the best results if the book is held about eighteen inches 
from the eyes, and in such a position so that the light falls 
upon the page from the left side. 

Aids to Reading: Articulation. — Intelligent oral reading 
and speaking are proper correctives for poor articulation and 
enunciation. Sloven articulation, indistinct enunciation, and 
slurring pronunciation, are common American vices, which 
the school can do much to correct. Unless the school de- 
votes itself without ceasing to the destruction of these habits, 
we may expect them to spread and the people to become more 
and more satisfied with them. There is nothing that so 
quickly distinguishes culture from crudeness, good breed- 
ing from poor breeding, intelligence from ignorance, as the 
language one uses, and the manner in which he uses it. 
Language habits are a fair index of one's training and of his 
social station. We use "harsh, commonplace, affected, stri- 
dent, feeble, fluffy, sloppy, grating, silly" voices partly be- 
cause we have not been intelligently instructed and habitu- 
ated in correct language habits. 

Articulation, enunciation, and pronunciation drills should 
be regarded as fundamental and essential to proper reading. 
These drills are not reading; they are the preparation for 
reading. They should not be engaged in while one is read- 
ing. The main purpose of oral reading is to convey thought 
and emotion through expression. Articulation drills merely 
prepare and equip one to do this effectively. 

These drills should usually be carried on apart from the 
regular reading lesson. They should be short. If two min- 
utes a day are devoted to such drills, surprising results will 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 167 

be secured. Drill is not economical if the teacher spends a 
large share of the class time in talking or in doing things to 
attract the attention of the children. She will not say: 
" Now, children, let me have your attention/' " We are going 
to have a drill in articulation; I think it will be interesting." 
'' If John will turn his face to the front and Mary will put 
aside her papers, we will begin," '' Now answer promptly, 
etc., etc." This is bad; the teacher wastes half or more of 
the time. The class should know that this drill exercise will 
start promptly, that it will be short, aggressive, and system- 
atic, and that they must give their undivided attention to it 
every second of the time. 

The method involved in drill is the method of habit 
formation. The attention of the children must be focussed 
upon the thing drilled upon. The point of diihculty should 
be raised to consciousness. Mere repetition is uneconomical. 
The number of repetitions necessary to reduce a process to 
habit varies inversely with the intensity of the focalization of 
the attention of the children upon the part that gives diffi- 
culty. Interest in drill work increases as the devices are 
varied. There must, however, be constantly recurring situa- 
tions. It is not sufficient merely to call the attention of the 
children to their mistakes, nor is it sufficient to expect when 
they have been drilled upon a thing until they are perfect in 
it that it will not be necessary for them to be drilled upon it 
a week later. 

The material to be used in drill work in articulation and 
pronunciation should consist of consonant and vowel sounds, 
isolated words, sentences, and alliterative exercises. Very 
excellent material for drill along each of these lines is given 
in " Clear Speaking and Good Reading," by Arthur Burrell, 
published by Longmans, Green & Co. 

Professor Burrell gives many gymnastic exercises that are 
of service in training the vocal mechanism. These exercises 
range from simple consonant and vowel sounds to difficult 
combinations of words. 



1 68 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The following illustrate some of the types suggested: 

1. Ha, ha, ha^ha, he, he, he, he, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. 

2. Have, had, happen, heaven, help, hoist, hall, whole, holy, Harry. 

3. Pool, tooth, moon, rule, rude, loom, room (not room), food. 

4. Rye, type, like, scythe, oblige, chime, wine, sigh. 

5. Rash, cattle, dazzle, landed, tackle, facts, acts, apt. 

6. I have said, he is, he is not, we don't know, I saw her, I haven't, 

I shouldn't do it. 

7. The sick stammerer, muddled heads, difficult questions. Six sim- 

ple sisters sat sewing shirts. Hold your hands up high, Harry. 
Mrs. Fiske's fried fish sauce shop. 

Any resourceful teacher can easily add to this list or make 
others equally as good. 

In Sherman and Reed's "Essentials of Teaching Read- 
ing," published by the University Publishing Company, 
Lincoln, Nebraska, there is an interesting Hst of alliterative 
exercises. I have chosen five of the best ones: 

1. Brother Ben boldly beat, battered, and bruised the British with 

his bludgeon. 

2. Columbus Capricorn was cross, crabbed, crooked, carbuncled, and 

crusty. 

3. Nancy Nimble, with a nice new needle, netted neat nets. 

4. The stripUng strangers strayed through the struggling stream. 

5. Six brave maids sat on six broad beds, and braided broad braids. 

Children delight in manufacturing such tongue-twisters 
as the above. There is no reason why they should not be 
permitted to put their ingenuity to such use. 

Some may have wondered as they have read this discus- 
sion why I have not urged the use of words for drill that occur 
in the daily work of the children. This is exactly what I 
should do. Most of the exercises should be of this character. 
However, they should not all be; for drill upon the elements 
of words and alliterative terms insures a facility and tone 
which the mere pronunciation of more or less easy words can 
never produce. 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 1 69 

Aids to Reading : the Dictionary. — The dictionary is but 
little, if any, more a phase of reading than it is of geography, 
history, or of any other content subject. Every one admits 
its value, but few have the habit of using it. Like the Bible, 
the dictionary is one of those things that are very valuable 
but are seldom used. Lessons in it are of a formal character. 
In this respect they are like lessons in pronunciation, capitali- 
zation, the use of margins, indentations, cyclopedias, gazet- 
teers, tables of contents, and glossaries. All such lessons are 
not in themselves intrinsically interesting. The material used 
is matter-of-fact; it is not something that increases in mean- 
ing and significance as a geographical fact does. For this 
reason interest must be infused into recitations deaHng with 
this type of material. 

The first important lesson for children to learn in the use 
of the dictionary is that of finding words quickly. To ac- 
complish this they must be able to use the alphabet forward 
and backward with equal faciHty. Time will be saved if the 
dictionary adopted has a thumb index. One of the devices to 
be taught is the use of the index words at the top of the page. 
These index words show what words are included on any 
given page. A few whole lessons should be given in which 
the children do nothing but locate words in the dictionary. 
From the fourth grade on every pupil should have a good 
dictionary, indexed and well printed in large type, furnished 
by the schools. 

At the very outset children must be taught to note the 
alphabetical order of the word structure. 

The time to teach diacritical marks is when the dictionary 
is introduced. The pupils can then see and appreciate their 
use in the pronunciation of difficult words. Two other things 
are involved in teaching pronunciation : one is the spelling of 
words, including the syllabic division and the use of the 
hyphen, and the other is the primary and secondary accents. 

How to find a word and how to pronounce it are important 
for reading purposes. In the upper grades some attention 



170 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

should be given to the aid the dictionary gives in the study 
of grammar and the etymology of words. These, how- 
ever, have only a very remote relationship to reading. The 
dictionary serves one other purpose which contributes to 
better reading: it gives the meaning of words. Inasmuch as 
several definitions are usually given, definitions varying in 
shades of meaning, the pupils must be taught to discriminate 
between them and to choose the one that fits in with the con- 
text best. Pupils should not be permitted to repeat defini- 
tions from memory. 

Note. — The various steps in the treatment of each of 
these problems, together with an abundance of illustrative 
examples, may be found in a pamphlet prepared by Professor 
Thomas Briggs, and pubhshed by G. & C. Merriam & Co., 
Springfield, Mass. This pamphlet may be had for the asking. 

Assignment in Reading. — The assignment of lessons is 
one of the teacher^s means of preparing pupils for private 
study. By it the teacher shows the pupils how to engage in 
individual drill, the manner in which they may successfully 
apply principles already developed, or the method to be used 
in treating new material. The assignment is the teacher's one 
best chance of stimulating children with a desire for the work 
that is to follow. For this reason it should be carefully and 
methodically given, and should be definite and clear. 

The obscurity of most assignments is due to the failure 
of the teacher to make adequate personal preparation. With- 
out this they are frequently nothing more than mere guess- 
work; each succeeding part of the text is treated in the same 
cut-and-dried fashion as the preceding. The teacher being 
unfamiHar with approaching difficulties, may by her habit- 
ually monotonous way of making assignments really inter- 
fere, if not block, the pupil's progress. Study increases in 
intelligence somewhat in the degree that the main or salient 
features of the material to be studied are emphasized in the 
assignments. The unprepared teacher cannot point the way 
to that collateral material which is necessary to illuminate 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 171 

the text. And again the teacher who has thought the new 
lesson through is better able to supply those stimulating hints 
that are essential to valuable study. 

These general principles are as applicable to reading as 
to any other subject. If the material to be studied lends it- 
self to oral reading, the discussion and the questions asked 
preceding the study should be of such a character as to call 
for the reading of the entire selection, and that several times. 
Correct and effective oral reading depends upon an under- 
standing of the selection. Moreover, it depends upon a fa- 
miliarity with the difficulties and a knowledge of the allusions 
found in the selection. However, it is easily possible to put 
so much stress upon these that effective oral practice will not 
be indulged in. The proper method must be somewhere be- 
tween that assignment which puts all its emphasis upon 
words, difficult passages, and allusions, and that kind of 
reading which places no stress upon such matters. Intelli- 
gent oral reading depends upon intelhgent practice, and this 
depends upon effective assignments. 

Material used primarily for silent reading should be so 
assigned as to call for organization. The emotional element 
and coloring present in reading the ''literature of power" is 
largely absent in that type of silent reading in which the 
school seeks to educate and train children. In adult Hfe, to 
be sure, nearly all material will be read silently. The habits 
of silent reading and the forms of organization essential to 
recall growing out of it should be emphasized in the assign- 
ment of the "literature of information." 

The two types of assignment are not mutually exclusive. 
They do, however, represent different nodal points in our 
thinking. By the form of the question used, and the material 
that appears in the assignments, the supervising critic has a 
fair notion of the large purpose that the teacher hopes to 
realize. He can tell whether the end sought is facility in 
intellectual organization or a taste and appreciation for the 
artistic aspects of Hterature. If the aim be some definite 



172 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

changes in the pupils' ideals in the direction of the larger 
aims of education, then all methods and devices must be so 
directed. 

Dramatics. — Few doubt the wisdom of continuing dra- 
matics through the upper grades. It was pointed out in the 
preceding chapter that young children possess the power of 
concrete imagery, and that this power is easily lost. Sym- 
pathy with the forms of artistic expression can be cultivated 
by the revival of concrete imagery. As children mature there 
is danger that they will acquire the adult tendency of em- 
phasizing the symbols of prose and poetry, and that the living 
images and scenes described by them will be without genuine 
significance. Whenever this state is reached literary inter- 
pretation becomes impossible. Verbal imagery, concrete 
imagery, and the imaginal elements are devitalized. Such 
subjects as geography and science are adapted by nature to 
the cultivation of the symbolic types of imagery; such sub- 
jects as literature and art are adapted by nature to the cultiva- 
tion of the concrete types of imagery. Each of these must 
receive its proper emphasis in the school. Whenever litera- 
ture, using the word in its highest and best sense, appeals to 
the eye alone the choicest pieces of poetry and prose go unin- 
terpreted. From the earhest times Hterary masterpieces have 
been interpreted and communicated through oral and dra- 
matic representation. Those early racial devices are still 
the ones, psychologically speaking, required for the most 
sympathetic interpretation of literature. Story-telling and 
dramatization, currently used in the earher grades, should be 
given a wider use than they now enjoy in the later grades. 

What children normally indulge in in the world is some 
evidence of the method that might be employed with profit 
in the school. Out of school they are the myth makers as 
well as the myth actors of the race. The cultivation of their 
imaginative powers through dramatic performance is one of 
the new obUgations resting upon the present teaching force. 
The teacher who will not make use of the device is either in- 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES T73 

crusted by an unworthy tradition and conservatism, or is 
ignorant of its worth. It is this spirit of child life, which, 
when kept alive in adulthood, prolongs plasticity and effi- 
ciency. 

It is true that some teachers decline to use dramatization 
on the ground that it will attract the attention of other chil- 
dren, and thus interfere with the regular work. The teach- 
ers who make this claim are usually the ones who have not 
given the plan a fair trial. Country teachers object more 
strenuously to its use than town or city teachers. This is 
due to the fact that they have a number of grades in one 
room. Those teachers who have given it a fair test assert 
that it does attract attention while it is new; but when the 
novelty has worn off, and it has come to be regarded by the 
school as one of the regular parts of reading or language 
work, it distracts others from their work no more than other 
interesting devices do. 

Dramatization properly conducted, is simple in its nature 
and far-reaching in its results. It requires nothing but imag- 
ination for a girl with a pail to represent a milk maid, a boy 
crouching on the floor to represent a fox, or looking through 
the rounds of a chair to pretend that he is a wolf, or for a boy 
seated in a box of straw to act as if he were a dog in the 
manger. Any kind of animal and almost any character can 
be effectually imitated or represented without elaborate cos- 
tumes or paraphernalia; the simple things about the school 
will be sufficient. 

There is one fallacy of which I should Hke to undeceive 
some teachers. It is the fallacy that grammar-grade children 
either cannot or do not like to dramatize. In either case, if 
such a situation exists, it is not nearly so much a criticism 
upon the children as it is upon the kind of instruction they 
have been receiving. They should like it, and will like it 
if they have been taught to like it. Really the work should 
be far more finished and polished in character in the upper 
than in the lower grades. I am well acquainted with one 



174 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

school where every grade dramatizes. The children are 
given the privilege of practising their "play" in an adjoining 
room, in a corner of the corridor, at the side of the building, 
or under the shade of some convenient tree. It may be 
urged that they abuse their privileges. Such a suspicion or 
accusation is unfounded, for these children know full well 
that to abuse their privileges means that they will lose them; 
furthermore, they know that another group is rehearsing the 
same scene, and that the two groups will be compared. Prac- 
tice, of course, improves the product. Those teachers who 
can find no place to permit practice are not resourceful. 

Reading of Memory Gems. — Another factor that has an 
indirect bearing upon reading is the committing of memory 
gems. We know that the number of repetitions decreases in 
proportion as the memorizing is done by thought units. Ordi- 
narily the following directions can be followed safely : Under- 
stand the meaning of the selection, repeat the whole selection 
every time, pause and take stock at suitable divisions, and 
work intensively. Do not ignore the last factor. It is true 
that one might eventually commit a passage to memory by 
saying it over and over in a dilatory manner. Persistent 
effort counts in the long run, but it does not count nearly so 
much as intense effort. A combination of the two effectually 
insures an effective result in a minimum time. 

Direction of Private Reading. — The necessity of directing 
the private reading of pupils should increase with their ma- 
turity. Something may be done with it in the lower grades. 
Every room and every school should be supplied with its own 
library, and the books contained in the library should be 
adapted to the age and attainment of the pupils. Appropri- 
ate books wisely selected have been great silent forces in 
modifying the discipKne of many a school, and in cultivating 
the intellectual interests of many a boy and girl. Fathers 
and mothers have shared in the reading of the books. In- 
directly, no doubt, the school library movement has been 
responsible for the enlargement of many a home library, 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 175 

not to mention the enlargement of vision, experience, and 
ideals. 

The direction of outside reading is an extra-school problem 
of paramount importance. Boys are Hkely to be attracted 
by racy and salacious literature, while girls are likely to be 
attracted by insipid love-stories. Indiscriminate and un- 
directed reading may lead to vicious results. Wherever the 
home consciously assumes control of this function, the obli- 
gation resting upon the school is correspondingly lessened. 
But all too frequently the home is willing to shift the burden 
of this responsibility upon the school. To insure the read- 
ing of the right kind of books at home, the school is war- 
ranted in requiring some kind of formal report from the pupils. 
This may be done by setting aside a regular time in the weekly 
schedule for oral reports, or by having the pupils hand in 
synoptical statements of the books read. The former is 
much the better plan as it avoids cheating and stimulates 
others to do additional reading. 

The regular reading lesson should be used frequently as 
a pleasure reading period, an '' appreciative lesson." Pupils 
should be encouraged to practise upon the part they want to 
read. The test of their reading is found in the interest and 
attitude of the best of the class, who constitute a true audi- 
ence. Such a plan gives an opportunity to several pupils to 
read parts from different books. They should read these 
better than they read the assignments from their texts, be- 
cause the parts read will be selected on account of the per- 
sonal interest the individuals have in them. A teacher will 
be making a good use of her time if she insists upon each pupil 
who wishes to read during the pleasure period, giving her a 
private demonstration of the skill and effectiveness with 
which he can read the part he has selected. Occasionally a 
pupil may be encouraged to tell parts of the story, reading 
only here and there; if this plan is followed, the pupil might 
be permitted to tell the story up to the dramatic point. The 
book should then be left in some convenient place so that those 



176 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

who have been caught by the story may have an opportunity 
to finish it. Many teachers are helping pupils and parents 
to get at club rates attractive magazines for home and school 
reading. Every school should be the Dublic-librarv centre 
for the community. 

All private reading should be encouraged for two reasons: 
(i) That it may be controlled and directed until the pupils 
have acquired an ability to choose intelligently their own 
material for independent reading; (2) that the pupils may be 
stimulated to read much in many fields. There is an old 
saying that we had better be a master of one book than a 
master of none. The statement is true only when that one 
book is a good book. It is certainly better to know many 
books, to have a kind of cosmopolitan interest in the various 
fields of literary endeavor, than to spend one's time mulling 
over one or two books. This wider knowledge and familiarity 
with books the school can give. 

Professor Chubb in "The Teaching of Enghsh," published 
by the Macmillan Co., a most admirable book for teachers, 
advises the elimination of three types of reading material 
from the grammar grades: (i) Whatever is touched with the 
more conscious reflective sentiment of adult love (e. g., in 
''Enoch Arden" and in ''Idylls of the King"); (2) whatever 
is bathed in an atmosphere of settled gloom — many of Haw- 
thorne's stories; and (3) whatever leads to the more solemn 
and darker mysteries of Hfe. He recommends that outside 
reading in the grammar grades consist at times {a) of tasta- 
ble books, like " Alice in Wonderland," or Irving's " Sketch- 
Book," or "Alhambra," or "Knickerbocker's New York," or 
the "Boys' King Arthur"; {h) of read-to-the finish books, 
like "Ivanhoe," or "The Talisman," or "Westward Ho," or 
"The Pied Piper," or "The Lady of the Lake"; ic) of read- 
carefully-every-word books, like some of the "Wayside Inn 
Stories," "Snowbound," "The Great Stone Face," Gray's 
"Elegy," "Deserted Village.'^ 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 1 77 

III. Measuring Reading Ability 

Applicability of Existing Scales and Tests in Reading. — 

We have at our command several tests and scales for the 
measurement of ability in reading. No one of the series of 
tests yet devised for the measurement of efficiency in reading 
combines all the requisites of a good scale — uniformity of test 
material, standards in rate and its measurement, test of com- 
prehension, and a practical method of scoring results, but they 
are all of such value as to merit the approval of teachers. 
For instance, the primary purpose of the Courtis test^ is to 
test speed; of the Thorndike^ scale, comprehension; of the 
Pinter^ tests, the value of oral and silent reading in relation 
to speed. Dr. W. S. Gray has pubhshed a large monograph 
on ''Studies of Elementary-School Reading Through Stan- 
dardized Tests," University of Chicago Press, and has con- 
tributed a suggestive discussion to the sixteenth year-book 
of the National Society for the Study of Education.'* 

Speed in Silent Reading 

Mr. S. A. Courtis and Mr. Daniel Starch have both arrived 
at what they deem fair standards for speed in reading by 
means of extensive experiments. Speed is measured by the 
number of words of a given type of material that students can 
read silently in a given unit of time. The two scales stand 
as follows: 



GRADE 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


* Starch (words per minute) 


144 
160 


168 
180 


192 
220 


216 

2SO 


240 
280 


t Courtis (words per minute) 





* The Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 1915, p. 15. 
t "The Fourteenth Year-Book," part I, p. 56. 

IS. A. Courtis, "The Fourteenth Year-Book of the National Society for 
the Study of Education." See also his latest tests for comprehension. Public 
Schools, Detroit, Mich. 

2 E. L. Thomdike, Teachers College Record, September, 1914, and later. 

' Rudolph Pinter, Journal of Edu-cational Psychology, June, 1913. 

* Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 



178 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

From this it will be seen that Mr. Courtis maintains that 
a pupil of the sixth grade in normal reading should be able to 
read 220 words of simple prose a minute, while Mr. Starch 
places a lower estimate — only 192 words. The actual rates 
which each found in the schools tested from which the stand- 
ards were evolved are as follows: 



GRADE 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


Starch (words per minute) 


144 
i6s 


163 
173 


192 

215 


222 
252 


228 
23s 


Courtis (words per minute) 





The difference in the standards set by Mr. Starch and 
Mr. Courtis is doubtless due to the differing conditions gov- 
erning the tests. The pupils whom Mr. Starch tested knew 
that their abiUty to comprehend, as well as their speed, was 
being tested. Those tested by Mr. Courtis were simply told 
to read as they usually did. It is, however, interesting to 
note that a similar test to that of Mr. Starch, given by H. 
A. Brown, in seven schools, produced almost identical results 
— the pupils of the sixth grade read 3.17 words per second, 
or 190 words per minute. ^ From this it would seem safe to 
conclude that every teacher should be expected to bring her 
pupils up to the standard set by Mr. Starch.^ She should 
aspire to the higher standard, for as Mr. Courtis explains, 
that degree of skill is needed for social efficiency, and is de- 
manded of the ordinary adult. 

Measures of Comprehension.- — Professor Thorndike has 
prepared scales designed to measure visual vocabulary and 
the understanding of words and sentences.^ The scale for 
testing the visual vocabulary indicates the child's ability to 
classify words which he sees, and consists of a series of unre- 
lated words arranged in lines, the words in each line being of 

1 The Elementary School Teacher, June, 1914, p. 484, also published as a 
bulletin by the State Department of Public Instruction of New Hampshire. 

2 See his "Educational Measurements," The Macmillan Co. 

3 The complete scales as worked out by Dr. Thorndike are obtainable from 
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 1 79 

approximately equal difficulty, and the lines differing from 
each other by equal degrees of difficulty. The Hne, which a 
pupil or grade can give 80 per cent correctly is considered to 
be the degree of difficulty which that child or grade is capable 
of handling. 

The scale for measuring the understanding of sentences 
or paragraphs is equally exact. Paragraphs varying by equal 
degrees of difficulty are arranged in a series. The pupils are 
required to read the paragraphs and to answer a series of 
questions based upon the paragraphs. Each child's score is 
in terms of his ability to answer these questions. Such scales 
have many advantages. The supervisor can say, after using 
them, that the fourth grade of the West Side School can read 
literature or text-books of the difficulty of ^'Set 6" (a series 
of paragraphs in the scale); while the fourth grade on the 
North Side can only read paragraphs of a little greater diffi- 
culty than "Set 4." A discovery of this sort should be 
followed by a careful diagnosis of the conditions. The super- 
visor must determine what should be done. It may be neces- 
sary to reclassify the pupils on the basis of their abiHties, to 
change text-books, or to modify the methods of instruction. 
At any rate the teacher and supervisor have at their command 
a device which will enable them to discover the strengths and 
weaknesses of classes and schools so far as reading is con- 
cerned. 

A set of tests used by Mr. Starch, of the University of 
Wisconsin, in fifteen schools,^ a second set used by Superinten- 
dent Oberholtzer,2 a third by Karl Douglas Waldo,^ a fourth 
by H. A. Brown,^ and a fifth by F. J. Kelly^ — all present 
schemes by which the comprehension may be tested in con- 
nection with the speed in reading. In each case the pupil is 

^ Mr. Starch, The Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 191 5. 

2 Mr. Oberholtzer, The Elementary School Journal, February, 1915. 

3 Mr. Waldo, The Elementary School Journal, January, 191 5. 

* Mr. H. A. Brown, The Elementary School Journal, June, 1914. 
^ Kelly, "Kansas Silent Reading Tests," Bulletin of State Normal School, 
Emporia, Kan. 



i8o 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



asked to reproduce in writing that which he has read. The 
methods for scoring reproduction vary. Some count the 
total number of written words correctly expressing the 
thought/ others count the number of ideas correctly repro- 
duced. ^ The chief objection to the former Hes in the fact 
that some pupils express themselves more tersely than others, 
and to the latter in the fact that difficulty is experienced in 
determining just what constitutes one idea. The advocates 
of either plan, however, prove quite conclusively that these 
conditions have Httle weight. Probably the simplest and 
best test at the present writing (191 7) is that devised by 
Mr. S. H. Courtis, of the Detroit, Mich., public schools. 

Index of Reading Efficiency. — One of the most accurate 
and most elaborate methods of scoring is that used by Mr. 
H. A. Brown, deputy state superintendent of New Hamp- 
shire. In ranking a pupil, he takes into consideration the 
rate of reading, the quantity of reproduction, and the quality 
of reproduction — the three combined make up an arbitrary 
unit of reading efficiency. The mathematical computations 
which he employs are extremely simple and are clearly ex- 
plained by him.^ The following is a table of results which 
he secured in testing the third grade of the city schools: 



School 


Rank 


A 

Rate of Reading 

(words per 

second) 


B 

Quantity of 
Reproductions 


Quality of 
Reproductions 


Reading Effi- 
ciency in 
Reading Units 
A and B 


A 
B 
C 
D 
E 
F 
G 


2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 


2. 16 
2.71 
2.04 
1.94 
2.64 
1.47 
1.08 


41.66 
26.94 
27.28 

26.3s 
19.23 

29 -73 

42.82 


35.41 
22.49 

23 -59 
21 .70 
15-65 
24.11 
27-73 


83 
56 
51 
46 
46 
39 
38 


24 
98 
89 
61 
04 
57 
10 



^Elementary School Journal, January, 1915, pp. 255-263; Bulletin of the 
State Department of New Hampshire; Journal of Educational Psychology, 
January, 1915, pp. 11-14. 

2 Elementary School Teacher, June, 1914, Mr. Brown. Journal of Educational 
Psychology, June, 191 3, Mr. Pinter. 

^Elementary School Journal, June, 1913, pp. 482, 484. 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES l8l 

A glance at this table reveals at once that the grades which 
rank higher in speed are not necessarily excellent in general 
reading efficiency — School E, for example. The teacher who 
uses this method of checking can discover whether her room 
is below par in the speed element or in the comprehension 
element. If she is striving for rate improvement, she can see 
by the use of this test, whether she is doing so at the expense 
of comprehension. One might infer that such was the case 
in School G, which had a very large quantity of reproduc- 
tion, but exceedingly poor quality. The use of Mr. Brown's 
scoring method will show the teacher where she needs to lay 
the emphasis. Indeed, Mr. Brown believes that he has dis- 
covered that the different types of teaching bring widely 
different results in the three factors of silent-reading efficiency. 
He expresses the conviction: " It cannot be pointed out too 
often that reading is more than mere word pronunciation. 
It is feared that some of our prevailing methods of instruction 
in primary reading are faulty for the reason that undue em- 
phasis is placed on too rapid and too complete mastery of the 
difficulties of word pronunciation in the earhest stages of 
reading at the expense of apperceptive and assimilative activi- 
ties, and that this type of teaching produces a pronounced 
word consciousness and a confirmed habit of reading words 
instead of thoughts from the printed page."^ 

Just how much oral reading is a help rather than a hin- 
drance ought to be determined. If a teacher finds her grade 
below the average in reading efficiency according to Mr. 
Brown's method and suspects that too much attention has 
been given in her grade and preceding ones to oral reading, 
she should drop it for a time, and devote her efforts to train- 
ing the pupils in more efficient silent reading. 

Materials to Be Used in Testing. — A practical question for 

every teacher is what material may be used to test children. 

Mr. Courtis chose a piece of simple prose for conductiag his 

speed tests. Mr. Waldo used selections from the school 

^ Elementary School Teacher^ June, 1914, p. 489. 



l82 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

paper, Current Events, which the pupils were accustomed to 
reading. Mr. E. E. Oberholtzer suggests that the children 
may use their own text-books, and may be tested in regard 
to speed and ability to reproduce with the following kinds of 
passages: ''(i) A familiar passage read some time before; (2) a 
famiUar passage read recently; (3) a new easy passage; (4) 
a new difficult passage." ^ Average together the results which 
are secured from these passages to get the ability in silent 
reading. Mr. Oberholtzer chooses passages that require two 
minutes to read. 

The plan of giving a test intended for one grade to the 
grade either above or below was adopted by Mr. Starch for 
purposes of comparison. He offers a graded series of passages 
as test material. These passages, eight in all, have been 
chosen from typical readers of the eight grades. But immedi- 
ately the question arises — how are we to feel sure that the 
readers differ from each other by equal degrees of difficulty? 
The only assurance we have is that the results of the test in 
all of the schools combined indicate a steady increase in ability 
to read the passages from the first to the eighth grade — a 
smooth curve rising at a fairly uniform rate. 

Time Consumed in Testing. — Another attractive feature 
of the scale is that each passage is of such length as to take 
the brightest pupil a Httle more than thirty (30) seconds to 
read. If thirty seconds is long enough to insure rehability, the 
test becomes doubly practical. In order to be sure in this 
matter, Mr. Starch conducted some tests upon three different 
sets of passages of varying lengths, and found that an indi- 
vidual's rank is nearly the same in all three. For ordinary 
purposes, then, it would seem that the interval of thirty sec- 
onds is sufficient to insure a fair measure of reliabiHty. Mr. 
Starch says: ''The speed of reading is determined by ascer- 
taining the number of words read per second. This can be 
done very rapidly by having a blank on which is indicated 
the number of words to the end of the line. By this blank 

1 The Elementary School Journal, February, 1915, P- 3i5- 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 1 83 

the total number of words read can be determined almost 
instantaneously. Dividing by thirty will give the speed of 
reading per second. The comprehension is determined by 
counting the number of words written which correctly repro- 
duce the thought." 

Values of the Tests and Scales. — ^The various units and 
scales thus far devised for measuring achievement in reading 
are of value to pupils and teachers and superintendents. 
They will enable pupils to compete with their past records; 
they set definite standards of attainment for teachers and 
will enable them to measure more accurately the work of indi- 
vidual pupils. Adjustments of materials and methods can 
thus be made more nearly in accord with the needs of pupils. 
Superintendents can use these tests and scales as devices for 
comparing the achievements of different rooms, the stand- 
ards that should be attained by pupils of different ages, and 
relative merits of different methods of instruction. 



SUMMARY 

1. Rapid and accurate interpretation of the printed page up to a 

reasonable standard is a minimal and common essential of the 
educative process to-day. 

2. Instead of training pupils to read by reading the various subjects 

of study, such as geography and history, the subject of reading 
has had connected with it the subject of "literature," largely 
fiction, and principally directed toward developing certain 
miscellaneous ideals and other emotional changes rather than 
furnishing information. 

3. The problem of reading is principally to develop at an early age 

skill in silent reading and to furnish children with such reading 
material as will lead them voluntarily to read enough to fix 
certain habits and interests in reading for life. Other aims, 
such as appreciation of good Hterature, skill in oral reading, 
getting magazines and books into the homes, and furnishing 
the great ideals necessary to vital, vocational, avocational, 
civic, and moral efficiency have conventionally been added to 
the fundamental aim. 



184 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

4. By the time children have reached the intermediate grades they 

should be able to read widely for pleasure and information. 
Stories have been used to draw children into the delights of 
reading, but informational matter as found in books, magazines, 
and newspapers, and as constructed by the children themselves 
is being used in many schools. 

5. Various aids to teachers in giving instruction in oral and silent 

reading are suggested in connection with position and articula- 
tion in oral reading and the use of the dictionary, making in- 
telHgent assignments, utilizing the dramatic instinct, reading 
memory gems, and directing private and home reading for 
silent and oral reading. 

6. Remarkable progress has been made in measuring reading ability, 

especially silent reading, and setting reasonably attainable 
standards of speed and comprehension for each grade. When 
we know what good teachers with typical children can accom- 
plish with certain methods, texts, and devices, and can mea- 
sure these accomplishments accurately, then we can begin to 
put at the disposal of all teachers definite standards and the 
best methods of helping children to attain to them. 

7. Thorndike, Kelly, Brown, Gray, Courtis, Starch, and others have 

organized and improved standard tests of reading ability. 
There are tests of knowledge of vocabulary, of comprehension, 
of oral-reading ability, and other abilities connected with read- 
ing. Mr. S. A. Courtis has, at the time of this writing, devised 
very easily applied and accurate tests of silent reading. The 
teacher should learn what are the latest and best tests and use 
them, thus measuring not only the ability of her pupils but 
of her own, and the teachers who have previously taught her 
group. 

8. Training in silent reading is being very greatly emphasized in these 

tests and investigations. The art of oral reading and decla- 
mation will be less emphasized, while silent reading and public 
speaking will more largely take their place. Recitations in 
reading will become more like recitations in the content, or 
knowledge, subjects. It is probable that continued oral read- 
ing weakens pupils for the rapid and thorough reading they 
need to do out of school as children and adults, while training 
in silent reading promotes these abilities. 



READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 



185 



PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

1. Learn what is the best test in silent reading for pupils of your grade; 

send for enough copies of the test; and test your pupils in speed 
and comprehension with it. 

2. Take Gray's oral reading test as given in his "Studies of Elemen- 

tary-School Reading through Standardized Tests" and compare 
results with it and those obtained by your silent-reading test. 
What conclusions as to facts and as to methods do you draw from 
the following comparison of rates of oral and silent reading as 
made by Oberholtzer {Elementary School Journal, 15, February, 
191 5), after a study of rates for 1,800 pupils. Results are 
given as number of words read per second. What would be 
differences in words for an hour's reading if the rate were con- 
stant ? 



3- 



Grade 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


Oral-reading rate 


2.1 


2.3 


2.4 


2.8 


3-1 


3-9 


Silent-reading rate 


2.3 


2.6 


31 


3-9 


4-7 


4.8 



4. What arguments for silent reading does Gray make in his mono- 

graph in the ''Sixteenth Year-Book of the National Society 
for the Study of Education" (Public School Publishing Com- 
pany, Bloomington, 111.)? Are they valid? What shall be 
the place of oral reading? 

5. In the same volume take the graded list of children'' s library books 

for schools as worked out by Munson and Hoskinson, check 
the list for one grade or group of grades and mark any you 
find that should not be offered pupils of those grades and 
write down any books you think should be included. 

6. What good methods have you seen used for getting either a gen- 

eral public or a school library located at a public school? 
What responsibihty has a teacher of reading for the outside 
reading of the children and adults of the community? 

7. In some high schools the separate period for English is being given 

up while correct English is being emphasized in all classes, and 
any teacher feels free to bring in fiction with which to cultivate 
ideals and appreciations along the line of his subject. Do you 
know of any attempts to give up separate reading classes in 
the elementary school? Are they successful? 

8. What function of reading is being partly cared for hy the motion 

picture for many children? 



1 86 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Briggs and Coffman — ''Reading in the Public Schools." Row, 

Peterson. 

2. Brown, H. A. — "Measurement of the Efficiency of Instruction in 

Reading." Elementary School Teacher, June, 1914. 

3. Courtis, S. H. — "Standards in Rates of Reading." The Four- 

teenth Year-Book of the National Society for the Study of 
Education. 

4. Freeman, F. N. — "The Psychology of the Common Branches." 

Houghton Mifflin Co. 

5. Gray, S. H. — "The Relation of Silent Reading to Economy in 

Education." Sixteenth Year-Book of the National Society for 
the Study of Education. 
6. "Studies of Elementary-School Reading Through Standard- 
ized Tests," University of Chicago Press. 

7. Huey, E. — "Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading." Macmillan 

Co. 

8. Judd, C. H.— "Reading Tests." Elementary School Teacher, 

April, 1914. 

9. "Measuring the Work of the Public Schools." Russell 

Sage Foundation, New York City. 

10. Kelly, F. J.— "Kansas Silent Reading Tests." Bulletin of State 

Normal School, Emporia, Kans. 

11. Oberholtzer, E. E. — "Testing the Efficiency in Reading in the 

Grades." The Elementary School Journal, February, 19x5. 

12. Pinter, R.— "Oral and Silent Reading of the Fourth Grade Pupils." 

Journal of Educational Psychology, June, 19 13. 

13. Starch, D. — "Educational Measurement." Macmillan Co. 

14. "The Measurement of Efficiency in Reading." The Jour- 
nal of Educational Psychology, January, 191 5. 

15. Thorndike, E. L. — "The Measurement of AbiUty in Reading — 

Preliminary Scales and Tests." Teachers College Record, Sep- 
tember, 1914. 

16. Waldo, K. D. — " Tests in Reading in Sycamore Schools." Ele- 

mentary School Journal, January, 191 5. 



CHAPTER VIII 

ARITHMETIC 

Preliminary Problems 

1. What work in arithmetic must every one be able to do in order to 

carry on the ordinary occupations of life? 

2. What types of operations or problems in arithmetic, as you studied 

it, do not meet the requirements of question i ? 

3. What are the two or three largest topics usually taught in the 

several school years, and do these seem to be well chosen? 

4. What is your opinion of the value of any single method about 

which you have read ? What is the method, and on what great 
principle does it seem to be founded? 

5. How does the work in mathematics in the first twelve school years 

in the United States compare in extent with that done in the 
other leading countries? 

6. What is your view as to the importance of supervised study in 

arithmetic and as to the means of carrying out such work? 

7. What works have you read on the teaching of arithmetic, and 

what other leading works are there which you might read with 
profit ? 

8. What is your opinion as to the nature of a good problem in arith- 

metic ? 

9. What is your opinion as to the value of pupils' analyses of prob- 

lems and of the formal explanation of an operation Hke the 
division of fractions ? 
10. What do you consider the minimum essentials of arithmetic which 
all should thoroughly learn? 

I. Introduction 

The General Problem. — The general problem of teaching 
arithmetic is not a particularly complex one. If we seek 
merely the ability to perform those calculations which are 
needed by the average citizen in his daily life, this ability can 
be imparted to the child without any great difficulty. The 
problem is far easier of solution than is that of teaching Eng- 

1.87 



1 88 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

lish, biology, or history, because it is much simpler and more 
direct. It is true that we have complicated it in all sorts of 
ways, trying to use arithmetic as a cover for various other 
subjects, and in doing this we have made the work unneces- 
sarily difficult; but the subject itself, so far as it involves 
merely the ability to do practical calculations, is relatively 
simple. The average citizen needs to know how to add, sub- 
tract, multiply, and divide whole numbers. This is the chief 
thing that he is called upon to do in arithmetic, unless we add 
thereto the adding and subtracting of decimal fractions as 
shown in the case of United States money. Next in order 
will probably come the ability to find a fractional part of a 
number, say of i6 inches. Next will come, perhaps, the find- 
ing of some per cent of a number, say 5% of $125. And 
next, the citizen will need to know how to multiply and 
divide a mixed decimal (dollars and cents) by a whole num- 
ber. Given this equipment, the average person will get 
along very well so far as mere practical calculation is concerned. 
If we were certain that children when they leave school could 
perform these operations with perfect accuracy and fair 
rapidity we might be reasonably well satisfied, and we should 
not hear the continual complaint that our pupils are weak in 
the essentials of arithmetic. 

So much for these essentials. Surely, with six or eight 
years at our command, we should bring the children to such 
proficiency in these processes as to leave no ground for re- 
proach. That we fail to do this is because we encumber it 
unnecessarily with other features, manufacturing trouble 
without any real justification for it. 

Troubles. — Now what are these troubles which we pile 
up before the children? Some are more or less necessary, 
while others are quite the reverse. In the first place, we take 
about a year in which to teach fractions. Some of this work 
is necessary, particularly the case above mentioned, that of 
finding a fractional part of a number. But will any reader 
of this page ask himself when he last had occasion to add two 



ARITHMETIC 189 

fractions like % and %, or when he last heard of any one else 
doing so? And, having answered that, will he ask when he 
last had occasion to subtract, say % from %? or to multiply 
these fractions together? or to divide one by the other? and 
when he last heard of any one doing so? And, after these 
questions have been answered to his satisfaction, will he ask 
himself when he was last called upon to divide one decimal 
fraction by another? or to add, let us say 15 gal. i qt. to 27 gal. 
2 qt.? or to multiply 18 lb. 12 oz. by 7? 

This does not mean that we can give up the teaching of 
fractions and compound numbers. We have to do more or 
less of this work for the benefit of the few who will use it, 
knowing all the time that the child must learn it while young 
or he will never master it, and realizing that, even if he does 
not use it, he is having continued drill in calculation while 
studying it. But the object of the remark is to show that 
there are relative values in arithmetic, and that these values 
are not sufficiently recognized. We tend to teach the divi- 
sion of one fraction by another, which not one person in a 
thousand ever uses, as if it were equally as important as 
addition, which every one uses frequently. The fact is, we 
overemphasize the importance of fractions and compound 
numbers, and we underestimate the relative value of the 
more necessary part of arithmetic mentioned above. 

What has been said of certain of these processes, however, 
becomes more serious when we contemplate the fact that a 
considerable part of our work with fractions often includes 
such cases as Ks X % and 2K7 ^ %7, cases which are wholly 
unwarranted either by the demands of business or by sound 
educational principles, except as a few problems may be 
given as curious examples. 

When we consider the applications of arithmetic we find 
an even greater lack of appreciation of relative values, and 
of these there will be mention later in this chapter. 

Let it suffice, therefore, to repeat that the problem of 
teaching the essentials of arithmetic is not a difficult one. 



190 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

We must teach some things which are not essential to the great 
body of people; but, once we understand something of rela- 
tive values, we may place the emphasis where it more properly 
belongs, feeHng less concerned with perfection in such rela- 
tively unimportant topics as must still have place in our 
schools. 

A General Survey of the Curriculum. — There are so many 
variants of the curriculum in arithmetic that it might at first 
seem a hopeless task to try to find any points of agreement. 
In reality, however, there is more agreement on the large 
questions than one would think at first sight. The lack of 
uniformity is most apparent in minor matters, usually of no 
great consequence. 

The curriculum of the first four years is quite the same, 
so far as its large features go, in all leading countries. At 
the close of the fourth school year the child is supposed to 
know the four operations with integers, the meaning of frac- 
tions, the most common tables of measures, and the meaning 
of the decimal point in the writing of certain denominate 
numbers (in our country, United States money). An exami- 
nation of the courses of study in all of these countries shows 
this practical uniformity. In some places there will be in- 
cluded the four operations with simple common fractions; 
in others, two operations are required; while in others a little 
more attention is given to decimal forms (as in multiplying 
United States money). But the great features are the same, 
and these should not be obscured. 

After the first four grades America rapidly falls behind 
the other leading nations. Our general plan is to make com- 
mon fractions the central feature in Grade V, decimal frac- 
tions and some percentage in Grade VI, percentage and its 
applications in Grade VII, and business arithmetic in Grade 
VIII. This is more or less varied, however. For example, 
one of our best courses of study makes decimal fractions the 
centre in Grade V, and common fractions in Grade VI. Of 
course, the pupils acquire some knowledge of common frac- 



ARITHMETIC I9I- 

tions in Grade IV, so that this arrangement is entirely feasi- 
ble. Furthermore, many schools join a considerable amount 
of work in the applications of percentage to the work in 
Grade VI, a desirable thing to do, particularly in view of the 
fact that the Junior High School will probably reduce, by at 
least half, the arithmetic of Grades VII and VIII. But in a 
large way the curriculum is about what has been set forth 
above. 

As stated above, the United States begins to fall behind 
other countries in Grade V. There are several reasons for 
this; but since the same conditions are found in relation to 
other subjects, these reasons should be studied in connection 
with the general problem rather than in a chapter on the 
teaching of some particular subject. The nature of the work 
in the various school years will be considered later. 

Method. — A generation ago the subject of methods played 
a more prominent role than it does at the present time. 
Every normal school had as its central feature the work in 
methods. Usually the courses in this subject did little more, 
with respect to teaching arithmetic, than give to the prospec- 
tive teachers just what any good text-book would give, 
namely, the explanations of the various topics and operations. 
Occasionally some enthusiastic teacher would venture upon 
some supposedly new plan of teaching this thing or that; 
frequently ideas would be advanced which had long before 
been discarded as impracticable; but in spite of it all the 
courses did much good because they concentrated the atten- 
tion of the novice upon the chief difficulties of the subject. 

At present there is a more scholarly idea of methods than 
was formerly found in educational circles. Teachers have 
grown suspicious of those who magnify the little methods 
which they may have devised for teaching any subject. The 
impression has become well established that one of the easi- 
est things in the teaching of arithmetic is the creation of 
"Method" — and one of the most useless. We may start off 
upon the idea that all number is measure, and hence that 



192 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

arithmetic must consist of measuring everything in sight — 
and we have a ^'Measuring Method." It will be a narrow 
idea; we shall neglect much that is important; but if we put 
energy back of it we shall attract attention and will very 
likely turn out better computers than a poor teacher will 
who is wise enough to have no '^Method" in this narrow sense 
of the term. Again, we may say that every number is a frac- 
tion, the numerator being an integral multiple of the de- 
nominator in the case of whole numbers. From this assump- 
tion we may proceed to teach arithmetic only as the science 
of fractions. It will be hard work, but, given enough energy 
and patience and skill, the children will survive it and will 
learn more of arithmetic than may be the case with listless 
teaching on a better plan. We might also start with the 
idea that every lesson should be a unit, and that in it should 
come every process of arithmetic, so far as this is possible, 
and we could stir up a good deal of interest in our "Unit 
Method." Or, again, we could begin with the idea that all 
action demands reaction, and that every lesson containing 
addition should also contain subtraction; that 6 -f- 4 = 10 
should be followed by 10 — 6 = 4 and 10 — 4 = 6; and that 
2 X 5 = 10 should be followed by 10 -^ 2 = 5 and 
io-r-5 = 2. By sufficient ingenuity a very taking scheme 
could be evolved, and the "Inverse Method" would begin to 
make a brief stir in the world. This, in fact, has been the 
genesis, rise, and decline of methods; given a strong but 
narrow-minded personality, with some little idea such as 
those above mentioned, this idea is exploited as a panacea; 
it creates some little stir in circles more or less local; it is 
tried in a greater or less number of schools ; the author and 
his pupils die; and in due time the method is remembered, 
if at all, only by some inscription in those pedagogical grave- 
yards known as histories of education. 

The object in writing thus is manifest. For the teacher 
with but little experience there is a valuable lesson, namely, 
that there is no "Method" that will lead to easy victory in 



ARITHMETIC 1 93 

the teaching of arithmetic. There are a few great principles 
that may well be taken to heart, but any single narrow plan 
and any single line of material will be fatal to the best success. 
In this same spirit the National Education Association only 
a few years ago expressed itself as follows: "The complaints 
of business men that pupils from the schools are inaccurate 
in results and careless of details is a criticism that should be 
removed. The principles of sound and accurate training are 
as fLxed as natural laws, and should be insistently followed. 
Ill-considered experiments and indiscriminate methodizing 
should be abandoned, and attention devoted to the persever- 
ing and continuous drill necessary for accurate and efficient 
training; and we hold that no course of study in any public 
school should be so advanced or so rigid as to prevent instruc- 
tion to any student, who may need it, in the essential and 
practical parts of the common English branches." 

Eccentricities in Teaching. — Before considering the work 
in detail, a word should be said as to those eccentricities of 
teaching which constantly appear and which tend to cloud 
the general problem. It is necessary that the world should 
continue to experiment if it would continue to advance. But 
it is not necessary that it should continue to try experiments 
which have been repeated hundreds of times and which have 
been proved unsuited to the needs of the general body of 
teachers. Any method, mode, device — call it what we will, 
is likely to succeed with the individual who feels himself the 
author of it, because it is put forward with the enthusiasm of 
a zealot; but for the profession at large the great mass of 
these minor devices are of value only as suggestions for oc- 
casional use. 

In particular, a method like that of Grube is certain to 
fail because it is based upon a false idea, namely, that every 
number should be thoroughly known before the child pro- 
ceeds to the next one. Great teacher as Pestalozzi was, his 
idea of consciously treating every number as a collection 
of units, as in 2X1 + 5X1 = 7X1, was too narrow to 



194 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

admit of general success. Enthusiast as Tillich was, his plan 
of continually using sticks of various lengths in teaching num- 
ber relations was not a good one for the schools at large; it 
was suggestive of occasional development work, but it was a 
very stupid method for constant use. So the habit of always 
being tied to some particular number table, or style of frac- 
tion disk, or box of blocks, or sets of cards, is a bad one. 
These devices have their place, but it is not desirable to be 
eccentric in their use. The same thing may be said of oral 
arithmetic; it is not merely desirable to have it, but it is 
essential to the pupil's success. But when some school 
authority demands that there should be no written work 
whatever in the first four years, an eccentricity of judgment 
is apparent. A few years ago there was the same eccentricity 
of having no arithmetic in the first school year, and some even 
advocated its elimination in the first two or even three years. 
Like all such extremes, this has passed away, and at present 
we merely hear that it should be taught ''incidentally," "as 
it naturally arises," or ''as it functions in the life of the child " 
— this last being a particularly pleasing phrase in educational 
gatherings. This particular eccentricity arose, as many others 
have, as a protest against an evil; arithmetic had been stu- 
pidly and too formally taught in Grade I, and hence the edu- 
cator comes along and pursues his usual course of saying: 
''Let us cut it all out." He has done that so often that the 
world is getting used to it; he is continually doing it for 
algebra, grammar, physiology, ancient history, and various 
other subjects — always seeking to destroy, rarely seeking to 
remedy defects. 

At present the prevailing ideas of those whose interest 
lies rather in pedagogy than in mathematics relate to measure- 
ment of efficiency and to problem material which concerns 
only the immediate needs of the child. The former has re- 
sulted in such plans as the Courtis tests, the most scientifically 
worked out of any similar devices for measuring the work of 
any given grade in arithmetic. A school will do well to adopt 



ARITHMETIC I95 

tests of this character so long as it recognizes that the results 
are averages, and that we cannot expect to bring all pupils 
up to these standards. The relating of all problem material 
to the immediate needs of children is not so easily sanctioned, 
since in its ultimate analysis it would take away much of the 
preparation which the schools must give for after life. 

II. Arithmetic in the Lower Grades 

The Present Interest in the Subject.^ — There is no sub- 
ject in the curriculum of the elementary school that is excit- 
ing more interest to-day than arithmetic. Yet, although the 
subject has been studied, experimented upon, and discussed 
for a great many years, there is no uniformity of opinion 
concerning some of the great principles of its teaching. 

It was not until the time of Pestalozzi that any serious 
attempt was made to teach arithmetic to young children, and 
as a result of the work of this great teacher the subject began 
to appear much earlier in the school course. Pestalozzi made 
arithmetic attractive to young children by making the sub- 
ject real to them by means of objects and by appeal to their 
every-day interests. 

Professor Henry Suzzallo, in his little book on ^'The Teach- 
ing of Primary Arithmetic," says of present-day arithmetic 
teaching that ''The grind of sheer mechanical drill decreases 
in teaching, and a reasoned understanding of relations, in 
some degree at least, is substituted. Artificial motives and 
incentives are less frequently used to get work done, while 
the quantitative needs of the child's life and the intrinsic in- 
terest of children in the institutional occupations of their 
elders provide a more vital motive for the use of arith- 
metic." 

Value of Experience. — Because of the great variety of 
opinions concerning the teaching of arithmetic, the best that 
teachers of the subject can do is to learn what experiments 

^ This section was written by Miss Worden. 



196 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

have been made, and what results have been secured with the 
best-known methods, and then be guided accordingly. As 
Mr. S. A. Courtis says in his "Better Teaching of Arithmetic," 
''Ours is the fortunate day of a new ideal. On every side is 
heard the insistent demand for a scientific survey, not only 
of education, but of every form of social activity that makes 
for human betterment." 

There have been all sorts of experiments in primary 
arithmetic, some going to one extreme and some to another, 
the tendency to follow a new fad being quite evident in text- 
books and courses of study which have appeared from time 
to time. A comparative study of courses of mathematics 
and results obtained, both in this country and Europe, should 
give us valuable assistance in determining the answers to 
such questions as: When shall we begin the study of arith- 
metic? How shall we teach the subject? And how much 
shall we require of the child? 

Such a thorough study of ways and means as was made 
by the teachers at Connersville, Ind., when getting out their 
course of study in mathematics, should be of valuable assis- 
tance to the progressive teacher who, in the light of modern 
psychology, pedagogy, and child-study, desires to make his 
work most profitable for the child. 

Experience Abroad. — Any one who knows about the amount 
of mathematical attainment of children in European coun- 
tries will admit that they are much in advance of children of 
the same age in the United States. As a consequence, when 
the European child is ready to leave the elementary school he 
is much better trained. Of course, there are many things to 
take into consideration in making such a comparison, such as 
the employment of better-trained teachers generally, and the 
shorter vacations, while even the general use of the metric 
system of weights and measures is proved to be consider- 
able of a time-saver. The valuable investigations of J. C. 
Brown, president of the State Normal School, Winona, 
Minn., on comparative attainments of European and Ameri- 



ARITHMETIC 197 

can pupils in mathematics bring out this fact very clearly.* 
They bring out the question as to what there is in their sys- 
tem that is worthy of imitation, and lead us to ask if our 
schools are so organized and our conditions are such that we 
can adopt the method used abroad. 

When Arithmetic Should Begin. — Let us discuss the 
question first as to when the child should begin the study of 
formal arithmetic. ''Not to put arithmetic as a topic in the 
first grade is to make sure that it will not be seriously or sys- 
tematically taught there in nine-tenths of the schools of the 
country. The average teacher, not in the cities merely but 
throughout the country generally, will simply touch upon it 
in the most perfunctory way. Whatever of scientific statis- 
tics we have show that this is true, and that children so taught 
are not as well prepared when they enter the intermediate 
grades in arithmetic as those who have studied the subject 
as a topic from the first grade on." ^ 

J. C. Brown, in his investigations mentioned above, data 
for which were secured from the reports of the International 
Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics, finds that in 
almost every country in Europe arithmetic from four to six 
periods a week is required of all children the first year in school, 
and in almost every country children enter the first year be- 
tween the ages of six and seven years, the notable exceptions 
being Finland and Russia, where children enter between the 
ages of seven and eight. And so we should find it if we exam- 
ined the courses of study of the most progressive cities and 
states in our own country. Social and economic conditions 
in this country are very naturally having their effects upon 
the school and in no particular branch is this more evident 
than in the arithmetic required in the best courses of study. 
Mr. Brown found that in Europe there was great variety as 

^ This monograph was prepared under the direction of the American mem- 
bers of the International Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics, and 
was published by the United States Bureau of Education in 1914. 

2 David Eugene Smith, "The Teaching of Arithmetic," Boston, Ginn & 
Company. 



igS TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

to just what was to be required during that first year, but 
practical uniformity in requiring much oral work. The daily 
drill in mathematics is provided in almost every course from 
which reports were obtained. 

The committees at Connersville mentioned above, which 
were appointed to draw up a course in mathematics for that 
city, examined seventy-eight courses of study from thirty- 
three states, and in sixty-one of them arithmetic was required 
in the first grade. This committee, in addition to the study 
made of courses from other schools, consulted with teachers 
and business men before making their recommendations, so 
we may feel sure that the work was very carefully planned 
and is entirely reliable. 

Importance of Oral Work. — The question as to the general 
principles of teaching the young child is one upon which there 
is more agreement. To be sure, we have had all sorts of fads 
and devices which have appeared from time to time, as, for 
example, the intensive study of one number as it is taken up, 
so well illustrated in the Grube method. There have also 
been such efforts as the Speer method, the extreme spiral 
method, and the visualizing method, all of which have had 
their value and have helped to better the teaching of this 
important subject in spite of the extreme views of their advo- 
cates. No one believes that any one of these methods is safe 
in itself, but each has its good features. Upon one thing, 
however, all writers now agree, namely, that the primary 
work should be largely oral. Superintendents, supervisors, 
and county overseers have considerable difficulty, especially 
with untrained teachers, in this 'particular. It is well known 
that it requires more effort on the part of the teacher to con- 
duct a good oral lesson than to assign written work for pupils 
to do either on the blackboard or at their seats, but it is vital 
to good work, and the teacher who cannot carry it on success- 
fully is sure to fail. 

Furthermore, there is the important question of time. 
In the rural school, where the teacher has but a few minutes, 



ARITHMETIC 1 99 

often only ten, for her primary class each day, it is much more 
difficult to make satisfactory progress in a subject when the 
work is largely oral. But in spite of the difficulties of teach- 
ing the subject in this way it is generally agreed that oral 
work should have great prominence in the early study of the 
subject. 

Lack of Preparation. — The writer, having taught in a 
State normal school for a number of years, and having had 
considerable experience in the preparation of young people 
to teach in both country and city schools, knows something 
of the lack of preparation of even our supposedly trained 
teachers in arithmetic. Time that should be spent in the 
study of general principles and methods has often to be de- 
voted to academic work, even high-school graduates being 
often found who do not know the forty-five combinations 
either in addition or in multiplication so that they can give 
them quickly. The country-trained children, who often are 
preparing to go back into the country to teach, are even worse 
off. What kind of rapid oral drill will they be able to give a 
primary class in arithmetic ? They have been poorly trained 
themselves, and a term of from ten to twenty weeks in a 
normal school in professional arithmetic cannot do every- 
thing that is necessary to overcome their lack of training in 
earlier years. The next generation, however, with earnest 
effort on the part of our conscientious young teachers, will 
show great improvement in these particulars. Time now 
being spent in normal schools on academic work which belongs 
in the elementary school can then be given more largely to 
professional training. 

Use of Objects. — Another feature which is generally ac- 
cepted in the methods of teaching primary arithmetic is the 
constant employment of objects in the beginning of the work. 
Great care must be exercised, however, that this object- 
teaching is not carried too far, for a child must not be kept 
on a milk-and-water diet when he is ready for solid food. 

As the young mind requires frequent change, the teacher 



200 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

should remember this fact in preparing her lessons, and should 
vary her class work accordingly. There are many excel- 
lent aids and suggestions which will be helpful to her, and 
which may be secured at little or no expense. In early hfe 
the desire to play games is a strong one, and an appeal to this 
side of the child's nature always meets with a ready response 
and gives the teacher opportunity to vary her lessons. Many 
a child has been interested to learn numbers so that he might 
play dominoes with an older brother or sister, and many a 
boy has maintained his interest in percentage in order to learn 
how to compute the baseball percentages. An excellent list 
of games is given in Doctor Smith's "Teaching of Arithmetic," 
Chapter 14. An ingenious teacher, however, can make a game 
of any number lesson by looking upon it as a contest in which 
a score is kept, the class being divided into competing sec- 
tions. The spirit of good-natured rivalry is one to which the 
teacher may often appeal in the primary grades. Great care 
must be exercised, however, that the game idea is not carried 
too far, and that the purpose of the lesson be not forgotten. 
Nature of the Arithmetic. — There has been much com- 
plaint in years past that the kind of arithmetic which children 
have been getting is not the kind that they will use when 
out of school. This criticism has had its effect upon the school 
course, and the result is an eHmination of all but the essen- 
tials, and a demand that these essentials shall be thoroughly 
mastered. Too much emphasis cannot be put upon the im- 
portance of frequent reviews and daily drill. The results of 
an investigation of J. C. Brown, pubhshed in the Journal of 
Educational Psychology a few years ago, may be of interest 
here. He showed the comparative progress of two classes as 
nearly alike as possible, one class having a daily drill period 
of five minutes on fundamental operations and the other not. 
The result showed that the class with the drill period increased 
its speed as well as its accuracy, the drill seeming to act as a 
sort of tonic. The effect upon the poorer students was es- 
pecially noticeable, and after the long vacation another test 



ARITHMETIC 20I 

showed that the drill class had retained the number relations 
much better than the non-drill class. 

Changes in Teaching. — The changes in teaching brought 
about during the last few years have come through pressure 
brought to bear from both within and without the school. 
A scientific study of methods and of the development of the 
child has brought about changes coming from the school it- 
self, while changes in economic conditions and other facts 
requiring a practical knowledge of the business transactions 
of every-day life have brought about changes coming from out- 
side the school. We no longer hear serious defenders of the 
idea of teaching arithmetic for what was once thought to be 
the best mental discipline. At the present time parents and 
business men are demanding that the school shall prepare 
the child so that when he leaves the elementary school he 
shall be able to do the arithmetic required of the average 
citizen, and do this with accuracy and reasonable rapidity. 
In consequence of these facts our primary arithmetic must be 
largely drill work upon the fundamental operations, and upon 
simple problems that appeal to the life interests of the child. 

In recent years our work in the primary grades has be- 
come more rational. If one steps into the room of a first-class 
teacher of primary arithmetic he may see work quite different 
from that which was common a few years ago. The teacher 
may be conducting a lively oral drill on simple combinations, 
the children being on the alert and ready to answer quickly 
when called upon. In a few moments the work may change 
to some exercises in actual measuring and computing, the 
children moving about the room freely and quietly. Or the 
class may be purchasing the foodstuffs for the day's luncheon, 
use being made of current prices which have been obtained 
by the children themselves. A part of the hour may be de- 
voted to an interesting game in which a score has to be kept. 
If the class is in the country, problems relating to the farm 
may be the subject of the day, the farm furnishing excellent 
material for such work in arithmetic. The text-book may 



202 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

be in use, but if so the prices will be revised to suit local con- 
ditions of the day. No long explanations will be required of 
children in the lower grades, but the teacher will be sure 
that the children understand the work and by careful ques- 
tioning will bring out the reasons for the processes used. 
The visitor will find that the teacher always requires accu- 
rate statements, no child, for example, being allowed to state 
that 80 acres of land at $100 per acre will cost $100 times 80 
acres. The teacher will not permit the children to say that 
the area of the schoolyard is 4 rods times 6 rods, or 24 square 
rods, even though such forms have a legitimate place in 
physics. Although children and even high-school students 
write such careless expressions as 2X7 = 14 + 4= 18-J-3 
= 6, the visitor to the model schoolroom will not find work 
of this kind, since it is apparent that 2X7 does not equal 
14 + 4, and that this equals neither 18 -^ 3 nor 6. 

Experience proves that children like to count, to measure, 
and to work with numbers. They like to solve problems 
which appeal to them, for they enjoy the satisfaction of really 
having done something in the line of discovery. The teacher 
may often add interest to an abstract process by showing the 
children what they may do when the new process is learned. 

The writer once saw this idea of anticipation as a stimulus 
used in a class in third-grade arithmetic. The teacher stepped 
to the board and put before the class a problem in the addi- 
tion of three-digit numbers involving carrying, a problem the 
children could not do, and then said: "How many of you 
would like to learn how to do that?" Of course, they all 
wanted to know how and the teacher began her lesson. 
Splints (which had been used before in the explanation of 
the place value of numbers) were passed to the children, 
less than ten being given to some, groups of tens bound by 
rubber bands being given to others, and bundles of groups 
bound into bunches of hundreds to others. The teacher then 
brought before the class three children — one units' child, one 
tens' child, and one hundreds' child. Numbers were then 



ARITHMETIC 203 

called upon to add their splints to those of the children rep- 
resenting the number before the class. Units' child was to 
bind ten splints quickly, and pass them to tens' if he received 
as many as ten, and the tens' in the same way was to bind and 
pass on to hundreds'. The teacher put down on the black- 
board the results in symbols. The exercise became a sort of 
game, and at the end of the lesson the children had a clear 
idea of how to add and carry. Upon going to their seats some 
problems involving the new principle were given and were 
solved under the direction of the teacher. 

The Study Period. — There is a great advantage in the 
teacher's having charge of the study period. In this way 
tendencies may be corrected before habits are formed which 
are difficult to break. Furthermore, if the pupil works under 
the direction of the teacher, habits of dawdling may be pre- 
vented, habits which are fatal to good work in arithmetic. 
Let me quote here from an article in the Thirteenth Year 
Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, 
written by E. R. Breslich, of the University High School, 
University of Chicago. Mr. Breslich says: ''One of the most 
pressing problems before the educational public at the pres- 
ent time is to find a means of eliminating the enormous waste 
of the time of pupils that results from two conditions which 
prevail in the schools, namely, the failure to provide for the 
individual differences in capacity found among pupils in the 
same class, and failure to organize the studying done by 
pupils so as to avoid the futile efforts which they now put 
forth to master lessons assigned for home work. One of the 
most important factors in solving both parts of this problem 
is the organization of periods for supervised study during 
school hours. "1 

The Pueblo plan or the Batavia system of supervised 
study, although subject to criticism, greatly assists the 

^ See also Dearborn's "How to Learn Easily," Hall-Quest's "Supervised 
Study," Kitson's "How to Use Your Mind," and Whipple's "How to Study 
Effectively." 



204 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS ' 

weaker and slower pupils in making progress. Similar meth- 
ods also provide for the very bright pupils, a class of children 
who have been much neglected in the past, and who are 
rarely considered in most educational discussions even to- 
day. 

This guidance of the study period is much more difficult 
in the country school on account of the lack of time, but it 
is often possible to ask a pupil in the upper grades to act as 
an assistant. The supervisor may often encourage the use 
of short cuts and mental work when, if left alone, the chil- 
dren would use long methods and the pencil. This is espe- 
cially true in text-book work. 

Work to Be Done in the Primary Grades. — The question 
as to just what should be taught in the primary grades, say 
the first four years, is one upon which authorities are not at 
all agreed. In most schools the teacher will find a course 
already planned, which must be followed more or less rigidly. 
The writer suggests the following as only tentative and as 
the result of conclusions drawn after examining many of the 
best courses offered in this country. 

Suggestions for the First Grade. — In this grade the work 
should be based upon counting and be largely oral and mem- 
ory work. Objects should be used very freely, and an at- 
tempt should be made to rationalize the work as far as pos- 
sible. At the end of the year the children should be able to 
count to loo by I's, 2's, 5's, and lo's. The simple combina- 
tions to 10 or 12 should be learned. There is no need to 
limit the upper range, for it is much easier to add 5 and 10 
than 5 and 6. Since children enjoy counting, they may be 
asked to begin with i and add by 2's to 13, or begin with 2 
and add by 3's to 14, and so on with other numbers. At- 
tention may be called very early to endings in addition, as in 
the cases of 04-5 = 5, 10 + 5 = ^5? 3,nd so on. In this grade 
the Roman numerals, as they come in chapters or lessons, or 
as seen on the clock face, may be taught. 

The fractions K and }i may be learned in a concrete way. 



ARITHMETIC 20$ 

Most children know the idea of these fractions when they 
enter school. The foot rule in measuring will give an idea 
of foot, of inch, and perhaps of yard. The teacher should 
always remember that children learn to do by doing. In 
this grade the teacher can develop the idea of number through 
the eye, the ear, and the hand, and can also make use of the 
motor activity of the child. The young teacher will find 
great assistance in Doctor David Eugene Smith's book on 
"The Teaching of Arithmetic," in the chapter on ''Work of 
the First School Year." The game element may be ap- 
pealed to early in the first school year, since there are many 
excellent games suitable for this grade. The work of the 
recitation period must be varied for young children, for they 
can be kept interested in one kind of thing for only a short 
time before showing signs of fatigue. Number primers, like 
the Wentworth-Smith "City Arithmetic, Grade I," or the 
^'Work and Play with Numbers," are valuable. Publishers 
of school supplies now have such excellent helps for teachers, 
and at reasonable prices, that most schools now make use 
of such helps all through the primary grades. Number cards, 
fraction disks, number tables, splints, and the like, can be 
procured through any of the large supply houses.^ 

Suggestions for the Second Grade. — In the second year 
the reading and writing of numbers to i,ooo should be taught, 
with counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 9's, and lo's. In counting 
by 9's, the child should notice that he adds one less than 10 
every time, but he should not rely upon this fact in his rapid 
work. In adding columns of numbers, the grouping by tens 
may occasionally help in the accuracy and rapidity of the 
work. The remainder of the forty-five combinations should 
be learned and should be the subject of daily drill. There 
should be much oral work in this grade, as in all the primary 
grades. When the children have learned to read, a text- 
book may be used to advantage, the text being employed 

^For example, the Educational Equipment Company, 70 Fifth Avenue, 
New York. 



2o6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

only as a help to the teacher, and not being looked upon as 
dictating exactly what is to be done. The so-called drama- 
tized occupations, such as buying and selling, may be of use 
in this grade, especially in the city where young children make 
actual purchases more frequently than in the country. The 
coins should be recognized, and the reading and writing of 
dollars and cents should be taught. The fractions )2, %, K, 
and Ys may be applied in such simple problems as these: One- 
half of a gallon equals how may quarts? or. One- third of a 
foot equals how many inches? The actual measures should 
be used in teaching the meaning of such words as pint, quart, 
and gallon. The multiplication tables to about 5 X lo may 
be learned this year. Additions of two-figure numbers not 
involving carrying may be taught, and the subtraction of such 
numbers may be taken up, preferably by the addition method. 
The addition method of subtraction is not universally used, 
but some schools require it, and it should be familiar to all 
teachers. It is illustrated in the following problem: Sup- 
pose you were to subtract 26 from 88. Instead of saying, 
"6 from 8 leave 2," you would say, "6 and 2 make 8," writ- 
ing the 2. In the same way you would say, ''2 and 6 make 
8," writing the result, 6. Children who already know another 
method, and subtract easily and accurately, should not be 
forced to learn a new method of this kind. 

In the drill work the teacher should aim to have the re- 
sults given quickly, and should not allow the child time to 
''count up." He knows how the result is obtained, and the 
teacher would better give the result to the child, requiring 
him to memorize that particular combination for the next 
day, than to have him form a habit of counting for each case. 
These combinations should be recognized by the eye and the 
ear at once. 

In the teaching of such geometric figures as come up in 
this year's work, including the square and circle, paper fold- 
ing and cutting will be of assistance, especially in the work in 
fractions. 



ARITHMETIC 



207 



Children of this age delight in making up number stories, 
and this practice is not only good drill for arithmetic, but is 
also of value in language work. 

Suggestions for the Third Grade.— In the third year the 
counting can be made more difficult; for example, the chil- 
dren may be asked to begin with 2 and add alternately 3 
and 4. They may also be taught to add 6's and 7's, or, in 
other words, they may use this simple method to complete 
their addition tables and multiplication tables. Whether the 
tables shall be taught to 10 X 10 or to 12 X 12 depends upon 
the course of study and the ability of the class. There is 
Httle more reason for stopping at 12 X 12 than for going on 
to 15 X 15; but, on the other hand, there is little reason for 
going beyond 10 X 10 in our country, the table 12X12 
being a relic of English teaching, where it is made necessary 
by the fact that 12 pence make a shilling. Numbers may be 
separated into their prime factors, and the simpler factors 
may be learned in this year; but the work should not be car- 
ried far, because we seldom have occasion to reduce fractions to 
lowest terms. 

Division by one-digit numbers, as far as the tables are 
learned, may be required, always using short division. Some 
teachers prefer the quotient written above the dividend in 
short division, because it is so written in long division for 
convenience in placing the decimal point, but the practice is 
opposed to business custom, and the plan is inconvenient 
in subsequent work in mathematics. Easy long divisions 
may be taught in the latter part of the year. 

Much concrete work in measurement may be done in this 
year, especially in connection with simple problems in draw- 
ing to a scale. Playing at keeping store, if carefully con- 
ducted by the teacher, may prove very profitable. Actual 
prices should be used, and the children may be required to 
find prices by inquiry at home the day before the work is 
given. Empty labelled cans and cartons may often be 
secured by application to the large firms handling the goods, 



2o8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

but they are preferably brought from the children's homes. 
To make the work more real, toy money also may be used. 

The reading of problems, and the explaining of the proc- 
esses involved often proves a profitable exercise. In one or 
two of our standard text-books there are lists of "problems 
without numbers," which are excellent for such purposes. In 
every process there should always be the spirit of time-saving, 
but not that nervous haste which is so discouraging to the 
slow. A minimum of time should be the aim of both teacher 
and pupil, always keeping in mind that accuracy comes first. 

Suggestions for the Fourth Grade. — At the beginning of 
every school year there should be a thorough review of and 
drill upon the work of the preceding grade. We all know 
how easily children forget, especially during the long sum- 
mer vacation. By means of simple tests the teacher may 
learn the mental equipment of her children, and what their 
stumbling-blocks are. The "Standardized Tests" of Mr. S. 
A. Courtis are especially beneficial for the advancement of the 
pupils, if the teacher will carefully make use of the results 
obtained by such examinations. ^ This is especially true of 
the fi*rst tests. Drill upon the weak points, with especial at- 
tention to the slow pupils, will greatly help to increase the 
efficiency of the work given during the rest of the year. The 
review may put in the form of tables the facts learned during 
the preceding years; for example, the tables of linear measure, 
capacity, and the like, should now be memorized. 

At the end of the fourth year the fundamentals and foun- 
dations of the science of arithmetic should be thoroughly 
mastered. The forty-five combinations, both in addition 
and in multiplication, should be known at sight, the mul- 
tiplication and division tables should be learned, the funda- 
mental operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
and division should be so well known that any simple problem 
involving them can be quickly solved. The addition and 
subtraction of simple fractions whose denominators can easily 

^ Public schools, Detroit, Mich., sold at cost. 



ARITHMETIC 209 

be factored may be studied in the fourth year, together with 
some work involving very simple decimals, particularly with 
reference to dollars and cents. The work now admits of a 
much more extended use of the text-book, the teacher select- 
ing and supplementing whenever the text does not supply 
the needs of the class. Simple problems involving cancella- 
tion may be taught, and the children may then be asked to 
indicate the operations and cancel equal factors whenever 
this is possible. If the child is well drilled upon the work 
of the above outline, he should be able to enter the inter- 
mediate grades, feeling confident that, even if the work is 
more complicated, he will not be hindered by a lack of knowl- 
edge of the fundamentals. 

Note. — Summary, problems, and references will be found 
at the end of the next chapter. 



CHAPTER IX 

ARITHMETIC 

(continued) 

HI. Arithmetic in the Upper Grades 

Work Presupposed. — When the child enters Grade V he 
is supposed to know thoroughly the forty-five usual combina- 
tions in addition, and the same number in multiplication. 
That is, we have nine characters, i, 2, . ., 9, and we can add 

1 to any one of them, giving nine combinations with i; we 
can add 2 to any one of them, but since we already have 

2 + 1 there are only eight new combinations; with 3 there 
are seven new combinations, and so on, so that the total 
number of different combinations is 9 + 8 + 7 + . . +1 =45- 
This excludes combinations with o, which must be known, 
but which are so simple as to be excluded from the forty- 
five. It also gives only 3 + 2, not 2+3, and this is in accord 
with world experience. Indeed, in learning the multiplica- 
tion table it is a question whether we do not make a mistake 
to require both 9X7 and 7X9 learned, either one serving 
the purpose quite well. But whatever be the answer to 
these minor questions, the child must now know these forty- 
five combinations if he is ever to know them. Furthermore, 
he must know them both in tabular form and as isolated 
facts if he is to know them well, whatever some theorist may 
say about the danger of learning the multiplication table. 
One of the constant complaints in those European schools to 
which our children are frequently sent is that they do not 
know the addition and multiplication tables thoroughly, with 
the result that they cannot keep pace with children of the 
same age who have been well taught. This work should be 



ARITHMETIC 211 

done thoroughly in the primary grades, and the teacher in 
Grade V should merely have to review it, not teach it anew. 
There is also presupposed the abiHty to perform the four 
operations with any ordinary integers. To be sure, this must 
be continually reviewed, and in this work some such device 
as the Thompson "Minimum Essentials" or the Courtis tests 
is very helpful, but the operations themselves must be pre- 
supposed in any well-regulated school system.^ 

There is also presupposed a familiarity with the common 
tables of measures, and at least a fair knowledge of the mean- 
ing of fractions. 

Upon such a basis the teacher of Grade V can build; with- 
out it the structure will always be weak. 

Nature of the Problems. — In Grades V-VIII, the nature 
of the problems changes from the isolated type, which illus- 
trates the particular operation, to a more general type. It 
is, therefore, desirable to consider the various types of ap- 
plied problem which we find in arithmetic. 

When arithmetics were first printed, no problems were in- 
cluded except such as were completely solved. These were, 
in the strict sense of the word, " examples'' to be followed. 
When the boy went into his apprenticeship he solved such 
problems as naturally arose, referring back to the example in 
the book to find how to proceed. As schools came to be 
more common, boys attended who were not going to be 
apprentices in some particular trade, and books were pre- 
pared which supplied a small number of appKed problems in 
various fields, chiefly mercantile. It is only very recently 
that modern life has required such facility in arithmetic that 
a large amount of abstract drill work is necessary, accom- 
panied by a large range of applied problems. 

At the present time there are several types of exercises in 
arithmetic. First, there is the problem which involves only 
the work which has just been studied; that is, a child who is 
adding fractions is given a number of unrelated problems, 

* See chapter on "Measurement of Results." 



212 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

usually of no special interest, which can all be solved by 
merely following the rule. This is the ordinary type of prob- 
lem; it is universal; it serves a good purpose; and there is no 
reason why it should not endure. It frankly says to a child 
that it illustrates the process just studied, and the child 
thereupon solves the problem more or less mechanically. As 
an illustration it has merit. 

Next, there is the so-called narrative problem, in which a 
kind of story is told from problem to problem on a page. 
This sounds well, but the trouble with the plan is that it 
usually makes one problem depend upon another, so that if 
a pupil makes a mistake in one case this vitiates all the fol- 
lowing solutions, a very discouraging thing for the child. In 
this form, therefore, such a series of problems is not a success. 

Next, there are grouped problems, say a page on one indus- 
try, a page on another, and so on. These are usually not 
dependent on one another, and derive their value over the 
ordinary type by concentrating on some one occupation, thus 
adding a Httle to the pupil's interest and giving some infor- 
mation of general value. Such groups are coming to be 
somewhat common. They usually have the advantage of 
reviewing preceding work, not all of the examples referring 
to any single operation. 

Another type consists of problems which seek to place a 
child in a real situation where he must decide for himself, as 
a result of solving a number of related but independent prob- 
lems, how he will act. These may relate to his going into 
business; perhaps as to whether he will do better to leave 
school now and be an office boy, or go on in school and pre- 
pare for some other walk in Kfe; they may relate to the pur- 
chase of supplies for a ball team — whether they will be made 
in a large city department store, with parcel-post rates con- 
sidered, or be made in some other way; or they may concern 
a real camping expedition, a real case of a boy's corn club in 
a rural school, or a genuine case of purchasing home supplies. 
Such sets of problems are best made by the teacher with the 



ARITHMETIC 213 

help of the pupils, but text-books can render valuable assis- 
tance by giving types to be followed. 

In order that this last type may be better understood at 
this time, the following set, used by the writer in one of his 
other works, will serve as an example. 

1. Harriet wishes to earn some money. She has learned to bake 
bread, and her mother suggests that they stop buying bread from the 
baker, and make their own, Harriet doing the work and receiving 
what is saved. If flour is worth $5 per barrel of 196 lb., and Yj, lb. 
of flour makes a loaf of bread, and we allow $4.12 per barrel of flour 
for the cost of the other ingredients and fuel, what will it cost per 
loaf to make the bread? 

2. The family uses 2 loaves a day, and the baker's price is 5^ a 
loaf. If Harriet bakes the bread, how much is saved every day, and 
how much does Harriet earn in a year? 

3. After a few weeks Harriet gets so that she makes much better 
bread than the baker, and Mrs. Cook, their neighbor, wishes to buy 
8 loaves a week. The bread is so good that she is willing to pay 60^ 
a week for the 8 loaves. What are Harriet's profits per week on these 
sales? What do they amount to in a year? 

4. Another neighbor wishes to buy a loaf a day, at the same rate 
per loaf that Mrs. Cook pays. If Harriet agrees to this, what is her 
yearly income from this source? What is now her total yearly in- 
come from baking bread? 

5. Harriet wants to earn $2,200 to pay her four years of college 
expenses when she is old enough to go, six years from now. How 
many loaves will she have to bake to save this amount? 

6. Her father helps her by adding enough to her savings to put 
$300 in the bank at the end of each of the six years. If this money 
draws 4% simple interest, how much will Harriet have at the end of 
six years? 

7. If flour goes up to $6.25 a barrel (196 lb.), or 3>^^ a pound if 
bought by the pound, how much will Harriet save on 196 lb. of flour 
in buying by the barrel? 

Oral problems can be found in any good oral arithmetic, 
and such a text-book should be in the hands of all pupils. 
The teacher will find it very helpful to supplement such work 
by problems relating to school life, purchases of the home, 
gtreet life, games and amusements, and the like. In particu- 



214 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

lar, problems without numbers are of great value, for they 
require thought as to how to proceed to solve a concrete 
problem, without having the mind concentrated on the actual 
operation itself. The following are types of such problems, 
taken from one of the other works of the author: 

1. A man buys a certain number of pecks of chestnuts. How 
do you find how many bushels he buys? 

2. Given the length of a sheet and the amount to be added for 
hemming, how do you find the number of sheets that can be made 
from a given number of yards of sheeting of the right width? 

3. If you know the number of yards of lawn needed to make a 
skirt, and the price per yard, how do you find the cost of the lawn 
for a given number of skirts? 

4. If you know the number of cups of flour needed for a certain 
number of loaves of bread, how do you find the number of cups of 
flour needed for a certain other number of loaves? 

5. If you know the price of syrup per quart and also by the 
gallon can, how will you find the difference in price in buying a cer- 
tain number of gallons by the quart or by the can? 

6. If you know how much water flows through a pipe in a min- 
ute, how do you find how much water will flow through it in a whole 
day, at the same rate? 

7. If a boy wishes a piece of board to make a book-shelf, how do 
you find the cost of the board, knowing the size of the shelf and the 
cost of the lumber per M? 

8. If you know how much iron expands per foot when heated 
from the ordinary temperature to red heat, how do you find the amount 
of expansion of an iron rod of a given number of inches of length 
when heated to red heat? 

9. If a salesman sells on a salary plus a certain commission, how 
do you find the amount of his income for a year? 

10. If you know the number of hours per day that a man works, 
for each day of the week, and his rate of wages per hour, how do you 
find the amount due at the end of the week? 

In general, it may be said that the teacher will do well to 
make up and have the children make up real problems of 
local interest, but that not too much time should be taken 
for such work. It is the province of the text-book to save 



ARITHMETIC 215 

time by furnishing enough material to make any great amount 
of this kind of- work unnecessary. 

The Question of Rules. — About the close of the third 
quarter of the nineteenth century, rules had so increased in 
arithmetic that the work required no thought worthy of the 
name. Pupils learned rules for everything, and it was sup- 
posed to be a mark of understanding to recite glibly one after 
another. It was a foolish extreme, and the extreme to which 
the reforms of 1875 went was equally foolish, namely, to 
abolish rules altogether. The fact is, we all multiply one 
fraction by another by rule; we may not recite it to ourselves, 
but we know it and we act accordingly, never stopping for 
an instant to think out the reason. So there are certain rules 
that must be learned, whether in book form or not. The 
great desideratum is that these rules be quickly and naturally 
developed, so that the child formulates them for himself, 
thereafter adopting the wording of the text-book if that is 
clearer and more succinct. No rules at all is as bad as a rule 
for everything. Modern text-books are reasonable in this 
matter and may safely be taken as guides. 

Pupils* Analyses. — How much attention should be given 
to the analyses of problems on the part of the pupils, and to 
their explanations of processes? Formerly there was much 
more of this work done than is generally the case to-day. 
When we come to consider the matter carefully, it is seen 
that the only reason for the requiring of any analysis on the 
part of the child is that it shows that he understands a par- 
ticular problem or operation. That he acquires a habit of 
formal statement that is helpful in other lines of work, or 
that his memory is strengthened by learning set forms of 
analysis, has been too often disproved to require argument. 
To the extent that this analysis is really an explanation of 
his process there is an unquestionable advantage, since it 
enables a teacher to commend or improve the pupil's work. 
But how often is this the case ? Indeed, how often should it 
be expected to be the case ? Is it not the general experience 



2l6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

that pupils too often memorize their analyses, and that the 
teachers commend glib repetitions of their own words or 
those of the text-book, the matter being so imperfectly 
comprehended by the child that he is able to bear no ques- 
tioning ? 

But does this mean that no explanations are to be given 
or required? By no means. A child should know, for ex- 
ample, the process of dividing, and he should learn it by a 
teacher's questioning; he should thereby know that it is 
reasonable, and he should feel that for the time he under- 
stands why he proceeds in the particular way that he does. 
While the work is being developed he may be questioned as 
to all this, but that he should long remember the ''why" of 
it all, or that he should be able, at any time that some teacher 
or supervisor thinks fit, to give a lucid explanation of such 
a mature process, is as unnatural as it is unscientific. 

The Work of Grade V.— In the United States the large 
feature of the work of Grade V is usually common fractions. 
Experience shows, however, that there is necessity for a 
thorough review of the four operations with whole numbers. 
There are two reasons for this: first, that the child may be 
certain that he knows these basal operations thoroughly; 
secondly, because he is now ready to use larger numbers than 
before, and needs a Httle exercise in so doing. 

As to whether the rest of the work of Grade V should be 
in common fractions or in decimals does not seem to be very 
serious. The child already knows something of common 
fractions and may, therefore, undertake simple work with 
decimals. On the other hand, the decimal fraction is more 
abstract than the common fraction; it is historically a much 
later development; and it more naturally follows the earher 
form. If a child is not somewhat famiHar with common frac- 
tions these should certainly have precedence in Grade V. 

Concerning methods of teaching common fractions, there 
are certain general principles. One of these relates to the 
question as to whether the child should be able to explain the 



ARITHMETIC 2 1 7 

process or merely be able to perform the operation, "ratio- 
cination, or habituation of the manipulation," as the educator 
likes to put it. The world seems coming more and more to 
hold to the common-sense principle that a child should be 
led to understand a process when it is being taught, but that 
thereafter the process should become mechanical. For, after 
all, why should any child of eleven be expected to give the 
reason for inverting the divisor in the division of fractions? 
No adult can do it, unless he is a teacher, and even then the 
reason will probably be quite unscientific. Therefore, we 
hear much less about children's explanations of such processes 
than we did some years ago. The principle seems entirely 
sound. 

The second general principle relates to the scope of the 
work. Before the decimal fraction was invented (say about 
1600 A. D.) there was some necessity for common fractions 
with large denominators. That time passed away with the 
coming of the decimal, and with it went any necessity for the 
greatest common divisor in reducing fractions to lowest terms. 
To-day the world almost never has occasion to operate with 
a fraction whose numerator exceeds eight, although it rather 
commonly uses fractions with numerators as high as sixty- 
four in practical measurements. This custom of business 
would seem to fix Hmits to the fractions which we teach, a 
child knowing the significance of fractions up to sixty-fourths, 
but operating with fractions only as far as eighths. The 
operation to be emphasized is multiplication, for it is a com- 
mon thing to find the cost of 2% pounds or 3% yards of 
something, but it is a very rare thing to be called upon to 
divide 2% by 3%, and it is not very often that we have to 
add or subtract fractions, particularly if their denominators 
are any numbers except 2, 4, and 8. It is necessary to teach 
all the processes, for they are all actually used in business, 
but it is multiplication that deserves the greatest attention. 

The third principle relates to the use of objects in the 
teaching of fractions. It is not Hmited to fractions, however, 



2l8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

for it relates to all other work in arithmetic as well. The 
principle is this: Use objects whenever, in developing a rule, 
they contribute to a clear understanding of the situation, 
but abandon them the instant they have served their pur- 
pose. As to the nature of these objects, the question is not 
particularly important. Paper folding, paper cutting, inch 
cubes, blocks of different lengths, fraction charts and disks, 
figures on the blackboard — all these are helpful, and some 
variety is desirable. But all of them become harmful after 
they have served their purpose. 

The fourth principle relates to the form of explanation to 
be given. Here any text-book will always supply as good 
material as the teacher is likely to have from any other 
source. The Kttle methods of doing this thing or that, which 
used to be so magnified in classes for teachers, are not now 
so much in evidence. Any teacher who can read will find a 
good explanation of the addition of fractions, for example, in 
the book she is using, and if she will study this and use the 
common principles of education (which, after all, are mere 
common sense) in developing it to the class, using objects 
when necessary, she will get good results if she has the power 
of getting them. 

As to the mathematics of the subject, the above will suf- 
fice to show the reader what the problems are and how they 
can be solved. If we eliminate such fractions as g^Vy ^^^ 
the requiring a child to explain the operations, which means 
merely the memorizing of words which signify little to him, 
the work with fractions offers relatively Httle difficulty. 
The reputation that it has for being hard comes from these 
very two features, and their loss will never be felt except 
for the better. 

In Grade V there is also given, in most cases, some work 
with compound numbers. Happily this is becoming less 
prominent from year to year, for it is being recognized that 
the compound number has to a large extent served its pur- 
pose. In ancient times it was found easier to speak of 5 



ARITHMETIC 219 

pounds 12 ounces than of 5K pounds, because people did 
not know much about working with fractions. But to-day 
we employ the latter form because every one now knows 
how to use fractions. Courses of study are, therefore, recom- 
mending that but Httle attention be paid to compound num- 
bers, except in such simple and common cases as feet and 
inches, and the teacher will do well to carry out the same 
idea. 

In foreign countries but little of the above work is taught 
in Grade V. The child is supposed to have acquired a suffi- 
cient working knowledge of fractions in Grade IV. Therefore 
decimal fractions are usually taken up in Grade V, together 
with the necessary parts of percentage. The study of in- 
tuitional geometry is almost always begun in this grade, and 
often some work in proportion is given. 

The Work of Grade VI.— In the United States the work 
of Grade VI usually centres about decimal fractions and the 
elements of percentage. This is really very Kttle for a year's 
work, and the reason why teachers find it difficult to cover 
the ground is that we often find the course burdened with 
non-essentials. If we accept the principle that the child 
should be fully informed of the "why" when a subject is pre- 
sented to him, being placed as far as reasonable in the posi- 
tion of a discoverer, but that he should then be called upon 
to do the work rather than recite explanations of processes 
day after day, the ground is easily covered. To add or sub- 
tract decimal fractions is merely like adding or subtracting 
dollars and cents, processes with which the pupil is entirely 
famihar, and in which his explanations add Httle to his under- 
standing and nothing to his faciUty. The multipKcation of 
%o by Yio should lead without any great amount of talk to the 
understanding of the rule for 0.3 X 0.7, and similarly for 
division. After that the work should become entirely me- 
chanical for the pupil, as it is for us. Certainly there is 
nothing in this, if presented in a reasonable manner, that 
makes any great demand upon the pupil's time or energy. 



220 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The percentage question is also a simple one, if we con- 
sider the essentials of the subject. Of course a teacher who 
begins by having the children learn the statement that "per 
cent means by the hundred, '^ a statement quite without 
meaning to all children and to most teachers, and who then 
takes up numerous ''cases" with their rules, will not find 
the question simple. But one who takes up the topic in a 
reasonable way will find that it has few difficulties. In the 
first place, the pupil must be led to see that Ym, 0.07, 7%, all 
mean exactly the same thing; that sometimes we find it con- 
venient to speak of 18 inches, sometimes of i foot 6 inches, 
and sometimes of ji yard; and that sometimes we find it 
better to say 7% than 7 hundredths, though they mean 
exactly the same thing. 

If, now, we remember that about the only practical uses 
we have for percentage are covered by two very simple cases, 
we shall be able to give the essentials of the subject without 
much difficulty. These cases are illustrated by two very 
simple questions: 

1. How much is 6% of $150? 

2. $9 is what per cent of $150? 

A pupil who can solve these two problems can solve every 
practical problem in percentage that he is ever hkely to meet. 
Teachers will find that the subject loses much of its difficulty 
when they concentrate their attention on these two, with 
the possible addition of another which is related to the second 
one, namely: 

3. $9 is 6% of what number? 

With these three a pupil is equipped for any reasonable 
demand that can be made upon him. 

Let us now see how this compares with the work done 
abroad. In general it is at least a year behind that done in 
most other countries. What we do in Grade VI is done else- 



ARITHMETIC 221 

where in Grade V, and other work besides, and is done thor- 
oughly. In Grade VI most countries complete formal arith- 
metic, except as it is thereafter reviewed along with the study 
of algebra and geometry. At least four of the leading Euro- 
pean countries begin algebra in this grade. Practically all 
give a good course in geometry, intuitional rather than for- 
mal in character, and in this they introduce work in geomet- 
ric drawing. Slowly, as our country gets more in sympathy 
with scholarship and as teachers get better trained, we shall 
begin to approach this plan. It is true that the school year 
abroad is a Httle longer than with us, but this is not the 
chief reason for the difference. ^ 

The Work of Grade VII. — In our country it is a common 
practice to complete the work in percentage in Grade VII, 
and take up the most important applications of the subject. 
Arithmetic now ceases to be mathematical in the United 
States and becomes merely a branch of elementary civics or 
sociology. In those apphcations of percentage, in our Amer- 
ican courses of study that are within the range of under- 
standing of the pupils, there is nothing of a mathematical 
nature that is new, and so the pupil simply marks time. 
This was not the case under the old regime, for the examples 
were made so hard as to require some mental exertion in 
their solution; but these examples were not practical and, 
properly enough, they were discarded. Nothing of any 
mathematical content was, however, put in their place. Let 
us consider, for example, the subject of taxes. If we are to 
teach it at all, and we are compelled to do so under present 
conditions, we should present it in some such way as this: 
Some boys in a school wanted to organize a ball team. They 
found that they could rent a piece of land for a ball field for 
$4 a month, and that they needed $5.50 at once for balls and 
bats. Each boy bought his own suit, but they had to raise 
$9.50 for the first month. They decided that ten boys should 

^ Selections of such phases of higher mathematics as prove valuable tools. 
—Ed. 



2 22 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

be allowed to join, and that each should pay his share, which 
was 95 cents for the first month. This 95 cents was a tax 
upon each member of the club. 

A class wished to buy a picture for the schoolroom. 
There were 30 pupils in the class, and the picture cost $3.90. 
Each pupil agreed to pay his share. A committee was ap- 
pointed, and each member of the class was taxed 13 cents. 
Here the total tax on the class was $3.90, the tax of each 
pupil was 13 cents, the committee levied a tax of 13 cents 
on each, and a collector received the money. 

A village needed $8,000 for building a new schoolhouse, 
• and its citizens agreed to raise the amount by a tax. The 
sum was so large that it would not be fair to make each citi- 
zen pay the same amount, so each one was required to pay 
according to the value of his property. In this way those 
who had more property were taxed more than those who 
had little property. A man who owned $10,000 worth of 
property was required to pay twice as much as one who 
owned $5,000 worth, and half as much as one who owned 
$20,000 worth. This is the rule of taxation usually followed 
by States, cities, villages, and counties. 

A county has to pay its share toward the repair of its 
roads. Every one uses the roads, and so every one ought to 
pay something toward keeping them in good condition. The 
county may require each of its voters to pay a tax of $1 or 
more for this purpose. This is called a poll tax, the word 
^^poll" being an old word for ''head.'' Teachers should then 
have the pupils inquire as to the local tax rate, and should 
show them a tax notice of the village, city, or town in which 
they live. They should make clear to them the source of 
the income to run the school, pay the teachers, light the 
streets, and so on, so that they may see their own responsi- 
bilities and that of their parents. 

Now all this is excellent, and since we are compelled to 
teach taxes in arithmetic, this should be the spirit of our 
work — but let us understand clearly that it is civics, eco- 



ARITHMETIC 223 

nomics, or sociology — not mathematics. The mathematics in 
the subjects of taxes, insurance, commission, brokerage, profit 
and loss, banking, and various other applications of percen- 
tage, as taught at present in our schools, is puerile. If the 
tax rate is 7 mills on $1, how much is it on $10,000? At 
$1.25 per thousand, how much does it cost to insure a house 
for $5,000? Such problems are, mathematically considered, 
the work of pupils in Grade V. They are perfectly proper 
as problems in economics, civics, and sociology, and every 
child should meet them, but they have no place as mathe- 
matics in Grade VII, and in the long run this will be recog- 
nized, although we are forced by circumstances to give them 
this place at the present time. So long as this compulsion 
exists, it is our duty to see that these subjects are taught in 
the spirit above mentioned, but with the advent of the junior 
high school it is probable that the time allotted to arithme- 
tic in Grades VII and VIII will be reduced and some definite 
work will be given in intuitional geometry and the algebra 
of the formula. See our last paragraph on this point. 

Simple Interest. — The subject of simple interest offers, 
however, a field in which mathematical reasoning is involved 
to some extent, and in which there is much drill in practical 
multiplication and division. Nevertheless it must be said 
that here, too, the mathematics is becoming very attenuated, 
and will probably not long survive. People now borrow 
money at banks; the terms of credit are usually 30 days, 60 
days, or 90 days; the principal is usually some such even 
amount as $100, $500, $1,000, or the like; the rate is usually 
6% or 5%; and the interest is computed by the use of tables. 
The mathematics involved is slight. Fifty years ago a man 
who owed his grocer $78.30 would give a note due on some 
convenient date, and it would be a practical problem to find 
the difference in time, and then to find the interest on $78.30 
for 5 months 22 days at 7%. Such a problem to-day is prac- 
tically obsolete so far as the experience of the great mass of 
our people is concerned. Partial payments on notes is also 



224 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

passing away as a business custom. To the next generation 
the mathematics of simple interest will be very slight. 

What has been done in other countries to furnish material 
of mathematical content for this grade? Practically every- 
where is intuitional geometry taught, even including locus 
problems. In all other countries the simple (linear) equation 
in one unknown quantity is taught in this grade, and with 
this often go graphs and factoring. Algebra is made much 
more real than our arithmetic, and this is done by showing 
the practical and extensive value of the formula and the 
graph. Geometric drawing is very common; arithmetic is 
briefly reviewed, and the entire work has a mathematical 
content which ours entirely lacks. With departmental teach- 
ing of mathematics we may hope for work of this kind in 
America; under any other plan it would be a failure. 

The Work of Grade VIII. — What has been said with 
respect to Grade VII holds equally true with respect to 
Grade VIII. The work as it now stands is chiefly in the 
important fields of civics, economics, and social affairs, but 
hardly at all in the field of mathematics. Formerly there 
were taught in Grade VIII such subjects as square and cube 
root, progressions, alhgation, equation of payments, and sim- 
ple and compound proportion. These had mathematical 
content, but they were not related to the life of any pupil 
or to the interests of the majority; they had served their pur- 
pose at a time when arithmetic of this kind was taught to 
an older and more carefully selected lot of pupils, and when 
certain of these topics had more practical significance; but 
their day has passed. Their elimination left a gap which 
had to be filled, and this was done with no reference what- 
ever to mathematics, -but solely with reference to the other 
subjects mentioned. Much of the material is valuable, but 
not from any mathematical consideration. 

We are, then, confronted by this condition in Grade VIII : 
we must either teach civics and economics, with a little 
sociology, all involving merely the mathematics that can 



ARITHMETIC 225 

easily be covered in Grades I-V; or we must follow the lead 
of other countries and teach some real mathematics. The 
latter alternative necessitates departmental teaching, the 
high-school department taking over grades VII and VIII. 
Such a change cannot be made at once, however; indeed, it 
will be many years before we can get enough teachers to do 
work of this kind, and it will require another generation of 
school administrators with greater desire themselves to add 
to the world's fund of scholarship. At present, all that can 
be done is to teach civics in arithmetic as well as possible, or 
to put grades VII and VIII into the Junior High School, 
with departmental teaching and a richer curriculum. 

How, then, shall we go about to teach the subjects of 
Grade VIII? Experience shows that we do best to drama- 
tize the situations as far as this is possible. Every boy and 
girl should know the meaning of a corporation, for this is 
the age of corporations; the children should know the large 
features of such organizations, what is meant by directors 
and officers, and by stocks and bonds. To this end they 
should organize a corporation and play the game. This may 
be done in some such way as this: Some boys in the eighth 
grade have organized a ball club. There are fourteen boys 
and they pay $ioo for uniforms and $12 for balls and bats. 
If each of the boys should contribute Yu of $112, he would 
contribute $8, and if the team made some money from tickets 
to the games, each boy would have Yu of the profits after the 
expenses were paid. 

But some of the boys cannot afford to contribute as much 
as others, so they divide the $112 into 224 shares of 50 cents 
each, and sell to the members as many shares as they care 
to buy. 

James is one of the chief promoters of the club, and he 
takes 40 shares, thus making his payment $20. Fred takes 
20 shares, and the rest take various amounts. 

The first three games draw large crowds, and the gate 
receipts are heavy. The boys divide the profits according to 



2 26 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

the number of shares they hold. Fred tries to buy some of 
the shares that James owns, so as to get more of the profits, 
but James will not sell for less than 60 cents a share. He 
says his stock is now above par. 

The boys really formed a corporation. The capital was 
$112. There were 224 shares of stock, the par value of each 
being 50 cents. The profits they divided were dividends, 
and these dividends were so high that the stock went above 
par. 

In practical life men form corporations in this way, only 
they play the game of business instead of ball. 

It is not possible, in the space allowed to this chapter, 
to give further suggestions with respect to details of the 
course. In general, however, a pupil should be placed in a 
position to use his judgment with respect to the mathematics 
of a definite situation in which he may find himself. In a 
rural school it should be with respect to laying out and mea- 
suring fields, fertihzing the soil, the nature and value of 
crops, putting up fences and farm buildings, draining, bal- 
anced rations, taxes, and farm and household economics. 
In the city the range of subjects is equally broad, including 
the local industries, home economics, street life, amusements, 
and civic expenditures. The following are examples selected 
from the author's other works, which show what is meant 
by the real-situation problem adapted to this grade: 

Thrift in the Home 

1. Mrs. Brown finds that she can save at least 50^ a week by going 
to the market and buying in person. By doing this she will save how 
much a year, at least? 

2. Frank gets interested in the idea of helping to cut down the 
high cost of living. He says he will raise vegetables. Allowing $1.25 
for ploughing, $3.25 for fertilizer, $1.30 for seed, and 75^ a week for 
22 wk., which wages his mother insists that he shall have for his 
bank, what are the total expenses for the season's vegetables? 

3. Mrs. Brown used to spend $54 for these same vegetables at 
the store. What was the saving in having their own garden? 



ARITHMETIC 227 

4. Since Frank's mother no longer buys over the telephone, she 
decides to cut off that expense. This comes to $2.25 a month. How 
much does she save in a year by not using the telephone? 

5. Frank notices that at certain times there are bargain sales at 
the stores. By buying at a sale, an $18 suit at 15% off, three $1.50 
shirts at 10% off, a dozen 25-cent handkerchiefs at i6}i% off, a pair 
of $4.75 shoes at 25% off, and a hat and some collars and ties amount- 
ing to $5.35 at 20% off, how much does he save in all on the pur- 
chases in Exs. 1-5? 

6. How much have Frank and his mother together saved as 
stated above? 

7. They find that they can invest this money at 5% interest. 
What will it amount to in 10 yr. ? 

8. At the end of a year after the investment mentioned in Ex. 7 
was made, they invest an equal amount again at 5% interest, and 
they do this every year until the end of the 10 yr. How much will 
they have at the end of that time, including the interest? 

9. Frank will then be old enough to go to college. His mother 
says that he will need $1,500 if he is studious enough to earn a free 
scholarship. Will they have money enough saved to allow Frank to 
go to college? If not, how much must Frank's father contribute to 
help them out? . 



How Tom Earned His Spending-Money 

1. Tom's father gives him his choice of 35^ for spending-money a 
week, or a dozen hens with which to earn what he can. How much 
would 35^ a week amount to in a year? If the hens laid 100 eggs 
apiece in a year and eggs averaged 28^ a dozen, how much more 
would Tom have for spending-money by keeping hens? 

2. Tom figured this out, but forgot to deduct the expense of feed- 
ing the chickens. Suppose this to be $1 per year for each hen, and 
suppose that the hens averaged 125 eggs apiece, how much better 
would Tom's annual income be than 35^ a week? 

3. Tom chooses the hens and keeps a record of income and ex- 
penses. He finds that there are more table scraps than he had counted 
on, so that he needs each week only i pk. of corn costing 60 ^ a bushel, 
K pk. of oats costing 36^ a bushel, and 5 lb. of bran costing $1.40 
per 100 lb. What is the expense of the feed per year? 

4. During the year the hens averaged 2>^ doz. eggs a week, and 
these he sold at an average price of 25^ a dozen. What is his income 
per year? Deducting his expenses, does this leave him more than 
or less than 35^ a week, and how much for the year? 



228 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

5. Tom wishes to make more money. He learns that by selling 
eggs for hatching purposes in the late winter and early spring he can 
get 75^ for a setting of 15 eggs. If he sells 20 doz. at this price, how 
much does it add to his yearly income? What does this make his 
average income per week? 

6. He finds that his friend Dick keeps bees, getting t,^ lb. of honey 
a year from each hive. Dick has four hives, and he sells the honey 
for 18^ a pound. Is he doing better or worse than Tom, and how 
much per week? 

7. Tom decides to add bees to his source of income. If he can 
buy two hives of Italian bees for $4.25 a hive, and needs in addition 
$1.80 worth of supplies, how many weeks will he have to save his 
income as found in Ex. 5 in order to pay for the bees and supplies ? 

SUMMARY 

1. The problem of teaching the essentials of arithmetic is not one 

of special difi5culty. 

2. The curriculum in arithmetic in the primary grades, determined 

by world experience, is more uniform than is generally thought 
to be the case. 

3. There is no single narrow method which will make every one a 

good teacher of arithmetic. 

4. Our American schools begin to fall behind those of other coun- 

tries, with respect to the content of mathematics, at about 
the beginning of the fifth school year, and at the end of the 
twelfth school year they are a year or so behind. 

5. Much of the difficulty in arithmetic can be removed by confining 

the work to the essentials and by having scientific supervision 
of the study periods. 

6. Some form of standardized tests in arithmetic is valuable in as- 

suring the teacher that the work is fairly up to the average of 
other schools. 

7. There are various types of problems, each of which has its value, 

and the teacher should recognize the value of each, and not 
confine the work to any one type. 

8. A pupil's memorized analysis of a problem or of an operation is 

of relatively little value. 

9. The prime object in elementary calculation is intelligently to 

secure an accurate result, and to do this in a reasonably short 
time, but accuracy is much more important than speed. 
10. The work in the seventh and eighth school years should relate 
chiefly to business arithmetic, but with the advent of the 



ARITHMETIC 229 

junior high schools we shall probably fall in line with the rest 
of the world and add some definite work in intuitional geometry 
in Grade VII, and some definite work in practical algebra in 
Grade VIII. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

1. Make a list of sixteen examples in the four fundamental operations 

with (a) integers, (b) common fractions, (c) mixed numbers, 
(d) decimals which represent, to your mind, the hardest work 
that any school child should be called upon to do in order to 
be prepared for ordinary business life. 

2. Make a Hst of such applications of percentage to business needs 

as you feel a pupil should know, and which involve enough 
arithmetic to make them worth while. 

3. Make a list of number games which you feel can profitably be used 

in the first two school years. 

4. Write out a list of topics which you feel should be thoroughly cov- 

ered in the arithmetic of the first four school years, and in the 
order in which you feel they should be taken up. Express your 
opinion as to the advantages of the well-ordered arrangement 
of matter over presenting the work with no system of arrange- 
ment on any basis of psychology or arithmetical sequence. 

5. Write three problems which you feel would appeal to the interests 

of children in connection with the teaching of long division, 
and three in connection with the teaching of the multiplication 
of a fraction by a fraction. 

6. Write a set of ten examples which you could use in testing the 

accuracy and speed of children in arithmetic at the close of 
Grade IV. Write your estimate of the time that should be 
taken for the test, and, if possible, test your judgment by as- 
signing the examples to a class. Acquaint yourself with the 
Courtis tests in arithmetic. 

7. What arguments can you bring in favor of or against teaching 

algebra and geometry in the seventh and eighth grades, say 
in a junior high school. 

8. To what extent should mathematics be taught in connection with 

occupational activities which require its use as a tool ? 

9. Report on Monroe and Wilson's studies in the Sixteenth Year 

Book of the National Society for the Study of Education. 
10. What knowledge is of most worth in arithmetic? 



230 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Arnett, L. D. — "Counting and Adding." Amer. Jour. Psychol., 

voL XVI, No. 3, July, 1905, PP- 327-336. 

2. Branford, Benchara. — "A Study of Mathematical Education, 

Including the Teaching of Arithmetic." Oxford, Clarendon 
Press, 1908, 392 pp. 

3. Brown, J. C. — "An Investigation on the Value of Drill Work 

in the Fundamental Operations in Arithmetic." Jour. Ed. 
Psychol., vol. II, February, 191 1, 81-88; vol. Ill, November, 

1912, 485-492; December, 1912, 561-570. 

4. Brown, Joseph C, and Coffman, Lotus D. — "How to Teach 

Arithmetic." VI, 373 pp., Chicago, 1914. 

5. Brown, William. — "The Psychology of Mathematics." Child 

Study, vol. VI, March and April, 1913, 24-26; 42-47. 

6. Browne, C. E. — "The Psychology of the Simple Arithmetical 

Processes." Amer. Jour. Psychol., vol. XVII, 1906, 1-37. 

7. Bulletin of the State Normal School, Superior, Wis., October, 

191 5 (Number Games). 

8. Charters, W. W. — "Teaching the Common Branches," chap. 12. 

Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

9. Report on the Courtis Test in the City of New York, 

1911-1912. Interim Report, Committee on School Inquiry, 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, 1913, 158 pp. 

10. Bulletin No. 2, Courtis Standard Tests. Detroit, August, 

1913, 44 pp. 

11. Freeman, F. N.— "The Psychology of the Common Branches," 

chap. 9. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

12. Griggs, A. O.— "Pedagogy of Mathematics." Ped. Sent., vol. 

19, 1912, 350-375- 

13. Hall, G. Stanley.— " Educational Problems." New York, Apple- 

ton, 1911. 2 vols., 1424 pp. See "The Pedagogy of Elemen- 
tary Mathematics," vol. II, 341-396. 

14. Howell, Henry B.— "A Foundational Study in the Pedagogy of 

Arithmetic." New York, 1914, 328 pp. 

15. International Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics. 

"Mathematics in the Elementary Schools of the United States." 
U. S. Bureau Ed. BuL, 1911, whole No. 460, 75-120. 

16. Jackson, L. L. — "The Educational Significance of Sixteenth Cen- 

tury Arithmetic." New York, Teachers College, 1900, 252 pp. 

17. Kendall and Mirick.— "How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects," 

chap. 3. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 



ARITHMETIC 23 1 

Klapper, P.— "The Teaching of Arithmetic," VIII + 387 pages. 

New York, 1916. 
Lincoln, L. I. — "Everyday Pedagogy," VIII + 310 pp. Boston: 
Ginn & Co., 1915. 

18. McLellan, J. A., and Dewey, John.—" The Psychology of Number." 

New York, Appleton, 1985, 309 pp. 

19. McMurry, Charles Alexander. — "Special Method in Arithmetic." 

New York, 1905, 225 pp. 
Monroe, W. S. — Study of Economy of Time in Arithmetic in the 
Sixteenth Year Book of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

20. Phillips, F. M. — "Value of Daily Drill in Arithmetic." Jour. 

Ed. Psychol., vol. IV, No. 3, March, 1913, 159-163. 

21. "Number and Its Application." Fed. Sent., vol. V, 

No. 2, October, 1897, 221-281. 

22. Smith, D. E. — "The Teaching of Elementary Mathematics." 

New York, Macmillan Co., 1901, 312 pp. 

23. "The Teaching of Arithmetic." Boston, Ginn & Co., 

1913, 196 pp. _ ^ 

24. Article on "Arithmetic" in Monroe's Cyclopedia of 

Education. New York, Macmillan, 191 1, 5 vols,; vol. I, 203- 
207. 

25. Stamper, A. W. — "A Text-book on the Teaching of Arithmetic." 

New York, American Book Company, 1913, 284 pp. 

26. Starch, Daniel. — "Transfer of Training in Arithmetical Opera- 

tions." Jour. Ed. Psychol., vol. II, 306-310. 

27. "Educational Measurements." Macmillan Co. 

28. Stone, C. W. — "Arithmetical Abilities and Some Factors Deter- 

mining Them." New York, Teachers College, 1908, 102 pp. 

29. Suzzalo, Henry. — "The Teaching of Primary Arithmetic." Bos- 

ton, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 191 1, 124 pp. 

30. "The Measurement of Educational Products." School 

Rev., vol. XX, No. 5, May, 191 2, 289-309. 

31. "Accuracy in School Children: Does Improvement in 

Numerical Accuracy 'Transfer'?" Jour. Ed. Psychol., vol. I, 
1910, 557-589; vol. II, 191 1, 262-271 and 2>?>A-32>^. 

32. "A First Step in Inductive Research into the Most 

Effective Methods of Teaching Mathematics." School Sci. 
and Math., vol. XIII, No. 3, March, 1913, 197-210. 

^2>' Wilson, G. M. — Report of the Committee on Elimination of 
Subject-Matter to the Iowa State Teachers Association, Ames, 
Iowa. "A Survey of the Social and Business Use of Arith- 



232 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

metic," Sixteenth Year Book of the National Society for the 
Study of Education. 

34. Wilson, H. B., and G. M.— "Motivation of School Work," chap. 

9. Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

35. Young, J. W. A.— "The Teaching of Mathematics." New York, 

Longmans, Green & Co., 1907, 351 pp. 



CHAPTER X 

GEOGRAPHY 

Preliminary Problems 

1. Is it necessary for any one to know all the places on the map? 

2. In what phases of world geography are little children most inter- 

ested ? 

3. What methods of instruction most nearly take the place of actual 

travel to the- child ? 

4. How would you define geography? 

5. At what grade should home geography give way to more formal 

study of a text ? 

6. How large should a text-book in geography be ? What other helps 

than the text are useful? 

7. In how far are geographical facts dependent on each other? 

8. Why does map sketching by the pupil fix position and form better 

than merely observing a printed map? 

9. To what extent can the so-called spiral method of instruction be 

applied to geography? 
10. How much knowledge of the rest of the universe is necessary in 
order to understand the earth? 

I. New and Old Methods 

Geography Teaching. — In her recent book, "The Promised 
Land," Mary An tin relates the marvellous effects wrought in 
her Hfe by our American schools when she, a young Russian 
immigrant girl, came to this country. But of the instruction 
which she received in geography she makes an exception in 
the following words, which are very suggestive to geography 
teachers: "In the schoolroom, as far as the study of the map 
went, we began with the symbol and stuck to the symbol. 
No teacher of geography I ever had, except the master I 
referred to, took the pains to ascertain whether I had any 
sense of the facts for which the symbols stood. Outside the 
study of maps, geography consisted of statistics: Tables of 

233 



234 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

population, imports and exports, manufactures, and degrees 
of temperature; dimensions of rivers, mountains, and political 
states; with lists of minerals, plants, and plagues native to 
any given part of the globe. The only part of the whole 
subject that meant anything to me was the description of 
aspects of foreign lands, and the manners and customs of 
their peoples. The relation of physiography to human his- 
tory — what might be called the moral of geography — was 
not taught at all, or was touched upon in an unimpressive 
manner." 

Undoubtedly within the last fifteen or twenty years there 
has been vast improvement, not only in the methods of 
teaching geography, but in the selection of geographical ma- 
terial worthy to receive the time and effort of pupils. But 
yet there is room for improvement. The ''sailor geography" 
and the illogical methods of the past generation have not 
wholly been carried away by the rising tide of a better peda- 
gogy which has been produced by the work of such men as 
Parker, Geike, Redway, Davis, McMurry, Dodge, and others. 

Modern Improvements in Method. — Perhaps the most 
marked changes which have occurred within recent years in 
geography teaching may be classed under three heads as 
follows: (i) The introduction of home geography; (2) the 
substitution of much descriptive matter in place of the 
memorizing of names which always remain names only; and 
(3) the constant recognition of cause and effect. 

By means of home geography the child's mind is stored 
with concrete information with which he can afterward 
relate the new and otherwise unappreciated facts which he 
will learn of unknown places. With the aid of better text- 
books and a wealth of supplementary reading available to- 
day, the dry bones of geography have been clothed with flesh 
and blood. With the emphasis shifted from facts to the 
causal relation between facts, an exercise which once was a 
draft upon the memory alone, has now become a cultural 
force which trains the mind to habits of reasoning which 



GEOGRAPHY 235 

will be of lifelong value. Much of what follows in this 
chapter must group itself about one or other of the above 
three phases of geography teaching. 



II. Home Geography 

Like its twin subject, nature study, home geography is 
a somewhat ill-defined branch in the school curriculum. Like 
nature study, also, it is difficult to teach. This arises from 
the fact that it is not a text-book subject, and, furthermore, 
that the local environment of each particular school makes 
uniformity impossible, so that each teacher must in a mea- 
sure pioneer his way through the subject. 

However, there are general principles which will help us 
not only to define the limits of home geography, but to pre- 
sent it to children in a logical manner. Scatter-brained 
effort here is of little avail. There should be running through 
the entire subject some thread of definite purpose. 

Meaning of the Term. — Perhaps the most important guid- 
ing thought is that everything given under this name should 
be truly geographical. But here we are met with some un- 
certainty as to just what constitutes geography. Some say 
that it is ^' A study of the earth as the home of man." Others, 
putting the emphasis upon the human element, define it as 
*'A study of man in his home, the earth." 

A definition given by Mill will serve as a good basis for 
the selection and rejection of material both in home geogra- 
phy and in more advanced phases of the subject. He says: 
^' Geography is the study of the earth in its relation to man 
and life." 

Many topics relating to man or to the earth would not, 
according to this definition, be geography. For example, a 
detailed study of the government of Germany is an interest- 
ing study of man, but there is little relation between govern- 
ment and earth. Again, a study of geology is entertaining, 
butj excepting that phase of the subject which we call physi- 



236 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

ography, geology has little relationship to Hfe upon the earth 
now and to man. 

Not every phase of life which the child sees about him 
can be regarded as geography, even in miniature or in em- 
bryo, and only that which will help to illuminate the pages 
of later geographical study should be admitted within the 
pale of ''Home Geography." 

Topics in Home Geography. — As in all geography, so here 
there are two classes of topics into which the subject matter 
may be grouped, the social topics and the physical topics — 
those in which hfe relations are the prominent features, and 
those in which earth knowledge is emphasized. Of course, 
as pointed out above, life topics to be geographical must be 
influenced by their relation to the earth, and earth topics 
must be shown to have an effect upon the Hfe of man. 

The home is one of the simplest of social topics, which 
should be studied because it furnishes concrete illustration of 
many of the phases of geography. Each member of the home 
has duties to perform, "occupations," and the purchase of 
food and clothing and other necessities of the family illus- 
trates the commerce of the world. Perhaps a garden in the 
back yard furnishes some of the "products" upon which the 
family live or which they part with in exchange for things 
they cannot themselves produce. 

In all such study the teacher must keep clearly in mind 
what is in its nature geographical and what is not. 

The town, city or country community in which the family 
reside forms a second social topic which is productive of very 
much illustrative material. The social and commercial de- 
pendence of one family upon another; the organization among 
themselves for purpose of government or better social service; 
the need of easy communication, one family with another and 
with surrounding towns ; the food materials which are brought 
into the community and the sources from which such supplies 
come, and why such things cannot as well be produced at 
home; what this community supplies to the outside world. 



GEOGRAPHY 237 

Such topics are purely geographical in their nature, and 
being within the range of the children's experience are suit- 
able to prepare for them the way to a study of the geography 
of commerce and trade of the world. 

In all of this study the concrete and personal element 
should enter as much as possible. Otherwise the study of 
one's own city might be as incomprehensible to children as a 
study of things farther removed by distance but perhaps 
nearer to the child's experiences. For instance, in studying 
the government and business life of the city the men who 
occupy official positions and who do the work of the city 
should be made the objects of study rather than the positions 
themselves. Some children may know a policeman or a fire- 
man or a member of the council and be able to tell what his 
duties are, thus bringing the class into more intimate contact 
with the subject of the lesson. 

Physical topics call for outdoor work. A river system 
made w^ith a hoe and a garden hose is more true to nature 
than an indoor sand map of the same thing. Better still is a 
study of the river itself or even its counterpart, a streamlet 
with its branches, or a ravine and the smaller hollows tribu- 
tary to it. 

In the physical field, it is impossible to prescribe a home 
geography course suitable for all, for there is no such course 
possible. Those features should be studied which are present 
in the local landscape. The weather leading, as it does, to 
climate, is a universal topic, but the prominence given to 
various surface features and to streams or bodies of still 
water, will have to depend upon the proximity to the school 
of such features. 

III. World Geography 

Connecting the Known with the Unknown. — Growing out 
of home geography or, rather, as a part of it, should come 
to the child a comprehension of the world as a whole. This 
large conception may grow out of the child's study of familiar 



238 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

things of the home and the community. The coffee we drink 
and the rubber of our automobile tires may be traced back 
to their source in South America. The wool in our clothing 
may have come from Australia and the rice and silk from 
Japan or China. 

Such things make connecting-links between the child's 
mind and the distant unknown — serve as stepping-stones 
from the known to the unknown. After a discussion of the 
coffee-plantations and rubber-forests of South America, the 
sheep-ranches of Australia, and the rice-fields and silk fac- 
tories of Japan and China, should come descriptions of other 
features of these countries. 

The child Hfe of distant lands is excellent material for a 
beginning in world geography. Stories of the Eskimos, the 
Arabs, the Chinese, the negroes of Africa, the people of In- 
dia, and the American Indians, may be told in such a way as 
to impress children with the spirit of these nations. The 
spirit, or atmosphere, of a geographical situation is worth 
more at this stage than any number of geographical facts. 

The countries selected about which to tell stories should 
be those of the simpler, more childlike, crude forms of civiliza- 
tion, and the Hfe of the children of these peoples should re- 
ceive emphasis. 

In all of this work the globe should be in constant use. 
Small globes can be purchased very cheaply, and it is very 
desirable that each child have one on his desk while world 
lessons are being given. Unless the scene of our story be 
laid in a definite region the stories lose their force as geog- 
raphy and become little more than fairy-tales. Globes are 
much better than flat maps for young pupils, for they estab- 
lish in the children's minds correct relationships of the places 
referred to, and a conception of the earth's form. 

Prominence of Descriptive Geography. — If we compare 
the best geography teaching of to-day with a typical lesson 
of two decades ago, perhaps the most noticeable difference 
observed will be in the relatively larger amount of descrip- 



GEOGRAPHY 239 

tive matter now given. The old text-books gave very mea- 
grely the descriptions which in the newer books are the Hfe 
of the subject. Long lists of map questions were printed for 
study, the questions having little sequence or connection of 
any kind, one with another. These questions required a 
thorough study of the map, the details of which must be 
memorized instead of being organized into a causal relation- 
ship. Map study formed the backbone of the course, and 
there was comparatively little else. 

To-day our texts are replete with valuable information 
given in sufficient detail to render it interesting. The market 
is full (and so should the school library be) of books supple- 
mentary to the text, expanding what the Kmits of a single 
book are too narrow to do when deahng with so large a theme, 
every geographical phase of the regions studied. 

Supplementary Readers. — Formerly, if the geography 
teacher, realizing the meagreness of the text-book, wished to 
supplement it with assignments to be read by the pupil, he 
had to resort to a book of travel or adventure, the former 
often being uninterestmg to children and the latter unreHable 
as to fact. A new class of literature has arisen to provide 
suitable instruction in an interesting form, the geographical 
readers. 

The style of the better class of such books is unique. 
While the composition is good, still there is no effort at liter- 
ary ornamentation. Long descriptions in which authors de- 
light, valuable chiefly for their beauty of diction, give way 
in these books to a more direct style, better suited to convey 
instruction. 

The success of these series of books has led some publish- 
ers recently to so extend their series that each volume deals 
with a very small geographical unit, thus practically defeat- 
ing the purpose of the reader, namely, to supplement the 
pupil's text-book in so direct a form that he will be able to 
read the fuller account of all the countries of which his book 
treats. If a volume be devoted to a country which his text 



240 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

passes over with a paragraph or two he will manifestly be 
unable to do this. Balance as regards the relative impor- 
tance of countries is better preserved in the child's mind if 
his supplementary reading-matter is sufficiently condensed so 
that it covers large regions of the earth, giving to each por- 
tion its due prominence. 

Reports on Supplementary Reading. — One of the finest 
cultural exercises in geography teaching consists in having 
pupils read sections of the supplementary books which the 
rest of the class have not read, and make oral reports upon 
their reading. The fact that they are giving to the class 
something which is new and interesting to them adds zest 
to the exercise. The recitation of a text-book lesson which 
every one else knows as well as the reciter himself, and which 
he is reciting merely to prove that he knows it, lacks an ele- 
ment of value which the "report" to the class group supplies. 

Current Literature. — Magazines and newspapers cannot be 
used in the same way that geographical readers can to am- 
plify each lesson, for current news is not usually pertinent 
to the lesson being studied at the time. However, every ad- 
vanced class in geography should devote a definite allotment 
of time each week to a consideration of current events. In 
this way the class will come to realize that geography is a 
dynamic, not a static subject. As in the preparation of re- 
ports mentioned above, so here the pupils acquire some facil- 
ity in selecting and organizing important facts from the mass 
of material under consideration. 

The Geographical Library. — There is no subject (except- 
ing literature) which so imperatively demands a well-stocked 
library as does geography. If they are well chosen, sufficient 
books may be secured for a comparatively small sum. There 
are few schools so poor as to be justified in spending nothing 
on a library of supplementary geographical readers. At the 
close of this chapter a short list of good supplementary liter- 
ature is recommended, the total cost amounting to a very 
modest sum. Preference should be given to books which are 



GEOGRAPHY 24 1 

written especially for school use, such as the various series 
of readers. 

Sometimes tovm and city schools are so situated that 
they can make a special arrangement with the public library, 
so that the books there become practically a part of the 
school's equipment. County libraries are beginning to carry 
to the child of the rural school the same privileges which his 
city neighbor enjoys. 

Cause and Effect in Geography Teaching. — Recent empha- 
sis upon causal relations among facts has done very much to 
improve the teaching of geography. It has been to this sub- 
ject what the introduction of the philosophy of history into 
the bare record of past events has been to the teaching of 
history. 

The facts of geography should be gathered in clusters like 
grapes, not one by one. The circumstances which bind facts 
together are often more important than the facts themselves, 
and if the connecting thread be preserved, the memory is 
greatly assisted in retaining what has been learned. An 
illustration will make clearer the difference between the 
teaching of isolated facts and a discussion of trains of caus- 
ally related facts. The first of the two lists of questions 
below represents those found in earlier text-books, and has 
little to recommend it except that it is easy to make. The 
second list, covering much the same ground, is in line with 
more m-odern views of what geography teaching should con- 
sist of. It calls for thought, for solving definite problems, 
for comparison, for imagination, for reasoning from cause to 
effect — or from effect back to cause. The first list demands 
an exercise of memory only. 

1. What is the latitude of Alaska? Name and locate the 
towns. Locate the Klondike region. Describe the Yukon 
River. What islands to the southwest? What strait separ- 
ates Alaska from Russia ? 

2. What other regions lie between the same parallels of 
latitude which bound Alaska? Compare their climate with 



242 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

that of Alaska. Why are the towns of Alaska near the coast ? 
Tell some advantage each town has on account of its particu- 
lar situation. Would it be nearer to go by water or overland 
to the Klondike region? Which route would be easier? 
What time of year would the river trip have to be made? 
Find by the use of the scale of miles how far it is across the 
Behring Strait. What nation might enter America across 
this strait? 

Visualization. — Good teaching in geography keeps the 
child's imaginative faculty constantly on the alert. Mental 
pictures are continually forming, and the nearer these pic- 
tures can approach to the clearness of the traveller's actual 
perception the better. 

There are several aids to the formation of good mental 
pictures which the teacher should definitely make use of. 
First, a vivid word-picture, perhaps read to the class, but 
better given in the words of the teacher, while requiring some 
time and preparation, is worth all it costs. Teachers should 
cultivate a style which will approach the vividness of an 
eye-witness's story. Second, what the child has seen and 
experienced, fortified by his course in home geography, helps 
him to picture unseen conditions. The imagination is help- 
less without some basis of experience. Even it cannot make 
bricks without straw. Third, the use of pictures in regional 
geography, and models and diagrams in astronomical geog- 
raphy are perhaps our best allies in securing adequate visuali- 
zation. The modern stereograph probably comes nearer than 
anything else to arousing the same thoughts and feelings 
which would be evoked in the traveller as he actually looks 
upon the scene. Fourth, maps serve as a stepping-stone to 
enable the mind to reach a position where it can comprehend 
relative position and size. A mental image of the maps is 
first formed and then this is used to help us perform the other- 
wise impossible task of picturing the continent or the world. 

Map-Drawing. — Map-drawing as an aid to correct visual- 
ization can scarcely be overestimated, and yet many teach- 



GEOGRAPHY 243, 

ers waste much time of their pupils in this exercise. The 
trouble Hes in the use of the wrong kind of map-drawing. 
If we make the map an elaborate picture, a work of art, it 
is of doubtful value, considering the time spent. But if we 
make it a quick (but not careless) sketch of only those fea- 
tures which we wish to be remembered, its almost daily use 
will be time well spent. Drawing at the board a rapid 
sketch map from memory forces the pupil when preparing 
for the test to fix his attention on the general form and rela- 
tive position, to the neglect of details. This is exactly what 
we want. Daily exercises of this kind take but a few mo- 
ments' time and accompHsh wonders. Let the regions drawn 
be small, a single state, for example, and the exercise one of 
naming the surrounding regions and locating certain cities 
or rivers. Make the task definite, give a Httle time to pre- 
pare, have it executed rapidly, and finally dismiss it with a 
word of helpful criticism. A recent author says: "Twenty 
maps drawn in twenty minutes are worth more than one 
drawn in twenty minutes." 

If a more elaborate map is desired occasionally it should 
be colored, as coloring takes but little additional time and 
adds to the pupil's interest in his work. The simplest color 
to use is a solution of diamond dyes (a package in about half 
a gallon of cold water) applied with a brush or wisp of cotton 
wrapped on a match or toothpick. 

The chief value of such a map is rather to stimulate inter- 
est than to teach. 

Another form of map which may profitably be drawn by 
the teacher and left permanently upon the blackboard is the 
chalk and charcoal map, a specimen of which is shown in 
figure facing following page. A raised map is scarcely better in 
showing contour, and it has the advantage of the sand map 
in that it can be more easily seen by all of the class at once. 
A lump or stick of charcoal and a piece of white chalk is all 
that is required in drawing it. First, the whole space is 
chalked in white. Then the mountains are drawn, using 



244 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

charcoal on the shady side. The rivers and lakes, etc., are 
also put in black. Too much regularity in lining should be 
avoided, and the mountains and plains should be made to 
blend by rubbing with the finger. 

IV. Physical and Commercial Geography 

There is a very wide-spread demand for more physical 
and commercial geography than is incidentally included in 
the grade work in general geography. To meet this demand 
formal courses in these subjects are sometimes introduced 
into the eighth grade. Attention is entirely diverted from 
regional geography — to be fixed in turn upon the two sci- 
ences, commerce and physiography. 

Fallacy in Such a Course. — Two considerations may be 
urged against this poKcy. First, the pupils cannot well 
afford to drop regional geography; and, second, at this age 
children are not mature enough to study these subjects as 
sciences. They are not ready for the generalizations neces- 
sary when commerce and physiography are studied apart 
from the regions which exemplify them. 

A Better Policy. — A method which is at once practicable 
and sufficient to meet the demand consists in reviewing in 
the last school year the geography of the world, with empha- 
sis upon two phases only of each country, namely, its physi- 
ography and industrial relations. 

In this way a needed review is secured, but from such a 
different point of view that the work will seem new to the 
pupils; it will be a true exemplification of the oft-abused 
*' spiral method." Three books of reference are needed for 
this work, the pupils' text, an elementary book on commercial 
geography, and another on physical geography. 

One by one the units which make up physical geography 
will be brought out. When the lesson is upon Norway, the 
character and origin of the fiords will naturally constitute 
the main topic. Likewise, a study of Italy will consist prin- 




Chalk and charcoal blackboard map. A good substitute for a relief map 



GEOGRAPHY 



245 




cipally of a discussion of vulcanism, etc. In countries like 
Germany and Great Britain the stress will be laid upon in- 
dustry and commerce. 

Astronomical Geography. — A phase of geography which is 
probably more neglected than any other part of the subject is 
that which deals with the earth as 
a globe and its relations to the 
rest of the universe. The cause of 
day and night; the two factors 
which together produce the sea- 
sons; the reason for the Hmits of 
the zones; the cause of the mid- 
night sun; all these interesting 
topics can be made plain to chil- 
dren — but they seldom are. 

Illustrative Helps. — The first 
thought to get clearly into the 
child's mind is a conception of the 
solar system. One of the most 
helpful models to demonstrate this 
relationship of earth, sun, moon, 
and planets is a simple home-made 
device seen in the accompanying 
figure. It consists of several balls 
of various sizes suspended from the 
ceiling, a larger (croquet) ball, 5, 
representing the sun and smaller 
balls for the earth, E, the moon, 
M, and a planet, P, as shown in 
the cut. A string, cd, at the ceil- 
ing will allow the whole system to be revolved about the 
centre, S. The moon, being on a short string, makes several 
revolutions (months) about the earth, while both together 
pass around S, the sun, making a year. With very Httle 
trouble or expense such a model could be given a permanent 
place in any schoolroom. 



© 




246 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 




To illustrate the cause of seasons a croquet-ball painted 
white, so that light and shadow will be more evident, may 
be carried about a lamp in a partially darkened room. A 
nail in each side represents poles. The axis from pole to 
pole must slant and always point in the same direction. 
Show what would happen if it did not always point in the 
same direction (toward the north star) or if it were vertical 

with respect to its or- 
bit, or if it did not re- 
volve about the sun. 
For a means of 
demonstrating all 
phenomena connect- 
ed with day and night 
and the zones, noth- 
ing can excel the 
globe used according 
to the following plan. 
We must imagine 
that the globe is really the earth and that we are located 
somewhere out in space looking down upon it. The globe 
must stand where the sun will shine upon it and we shall be 
able to see the regions of both day and night, Hght and 
shadow, as it is turned. 

Set the globe so that the light covers it from pole to pole. 
It is now falling perpendicularly upon the equator, as may 
be shown by standing a pencil or other object on the equator 
vertically, with respect to the globe. It casts no shadow. 
This is the condition September 23 and March 21. 

Now place two chalk spots upon the globe in different 
latitudes, but upon the same meridian. They represent two 
persons. Turn the globe and they will be seen to enter the 
shadow simultaneously and emerge simultaneously. This 
shows that with the sun over the equator the days are of 
equal length in all latitudes. The nights also are of equal 
length. 



SJ>. 



d Continuous nigfit 



GEOGRAPHY 247 

Moreover, it will be seen that the path traversed by each 
of these points crosses twelve hour-circles in the Kght portion 
and the same in the dark. The days are equal to the nights. 
This is the season of the equinox. 

To show why winter days are short in northern latitudes, 
tilt the globe so that the sunshine falls 23}^ degrees short of 
the north pole. Show as before that the sun is now vertical 
at the tropic of Capricorn. This represents December 21. 
Leave the chalk spots placed as they were before. Now turn 
the globe, and the more northern one is seen to enter the 
shadow sooner than the one farther south. Sunset in that 
latitude comes earlier, the day is shorter. To determine by 
how much the day is shorter, count the hour-spaces as before. 

By similar demonstration the northern summer days can 
be shown to be long. The globe should now stand so that 
the sun shines 23)^ degrees past the north pole. See accom- 
panying figure. 

To show the reason for continuous day or night at certain 
seasons in the Arctic Circle: Place a chalk spot near the 
pole. On rotation of the globe, while in the summer posi- 
tion, the spot does not enter the shadow at all. During 
rotation of the globe, while in the winter position, the spot 
remains constantly in the shadow. 

The length of any day in the year in the observer's lati- 
tude (or elsewhere) may easily be found as follows : 

By reference to the analemma, printed on most globes, 
ascertain the distance of the sun north or south of the equa- 
tor upon that day. (Or this information may be determined 
by the pupils, using a "sun-board.") Having obtained the 
position of the sun, set the globe so that the sun's rays shall 
fall vertically in that latitude and then proceed as above to 
find the length of day and night in the observer's latitude. 

The apparent motion of the sun north and south during 
the course of a year should be observed by the pupils. The 
younger children may record the changing length of the 
shadow of the house or some other fixed object at noon. The 



248 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

older ones can make and use a ''sun-board. A nail driven 
at one corner of a square board casts a shadow at noon across 
an arc of a circle, thus showing the position of the sun rela- 
tive to the observer's zenith any day in the year. 

V. A Suggested Course in Geography 

Below the fourth grade there should be no book in the 
pupils' hands. Home geography, stories of interesting people, 
and instruction in the use of maps and globes should com- 
prise the work. The children should learn how to draw a 
map and interpret it. Begin with maps of room and yard. 

Fourth Grade may use an elementary book. Study the 
large and interesting facts about all regions of the world. In 
spirit the method should still be that of the younger grades. 
Descriptive story-teUing should form an important part of the 
work. Strive for "atmosphere" rather than for formal facts. 

Fifth Grade. — The southern hemisphere. South America, 
Africa, and Australia, is well adapted to appeal to the inter- 
ests of this grade. Also, being finished here, it leaves the 
upper grades free to devote time to more important regions. 

Sixth Grade. — A thorough study of Europe and Asia. 

Seventh Grade. — The United States in detail, special atten- 
tion being given to the home state. 

Eighth Grade. — A study of the commercial and physical 
geography of all foreign countries, paying special attention to 
their commercial relations to the United States. 

SUMMARY 

1. Modern improvements in geography teaching have taken place 

along three main lines: (i) The introduction of home geography, 
(2) emphasis upon descriptive geography at the expense of so 
much "sailor geography," (3) recognition of cause and effect. 

2. A course in geography should exclude all topics which do not 

have to do with both man and earth. 

3. Home geography topics are: (i) Social (based upon the home and 

the community), and (2) physical (dealing with natural fea- 
tures of land and water, weather, etc.). 



GEOGRAPHY 249 

4. Home geography should merge gradually into world geography. 

In teaching world geography, atmosphere should precede Jacts. 

5. In addition to a text-book every school should make use of (i) 

the supplementary reader in geography, (2) books of travel, (3) 
current literature. 

6. A jumble of unrelated geographical questions may be compared 

to a disjointed skeleton. A causal relationship among the 
questions articulates the skeleton, and some interesting de- 
scriptive matter relating to the places mentioned covers the 
dry bones with flesh and blood. 

7. Visualization is secured (i) by good verbal description, (2) by 

reference to things the child has seen, (3) by means of pictures, 
diagrams, and models, and (4) by maps. 

8. Daily work in rapid map-sketching is of more value than elab- 

orate, artistic productions. 

9. Physiography and commerce should not be divorced from regional 

geography. 
:o. Astronomical geography deserves more attention than it usually 
receives, when placed, as it often is, as a brief introduction to 
the text-book. 



PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

Compare a modern geography text-book with one of the past gen- 
eration. 

List the sciences which contribute to geography. To what extent 
is it allowable to draw upon each of them ? 

Point out all the activities of the home which have their counter- 
part in world geography. 

Compare some book of travel with a supplementary geography 
reader with reference to available material. 

See if all the facts to be taught about any particular country can 
be causally connected. 

Of what advantage is the National Geographic Magazine (Wash- 
ington, D. C.) to a teacher of geography ? 

What are the main contributions to your thought on geography 
which you are able to obtain from Dewey's " Democracy and 
Education" (Macmillan), chapter 16? 

What materials may be obtained from the U. S. Government at 
Washington, D. C, of great service in geography teaching ? 



250 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Carpenter's Geographical Readers. American Book Co. Six 

vols, at 60 c. each. "North America," "South America," "Eu- 
rope," "Asia," "Africa," "Australia and the Islands of the 
Sea." 

2. Chamberlain — "The Continents and Their People." Macmillan 

Co. 

"North America," "Europe." "How We Are Clothed," "How 
We Are Fed," "How We Are Sheltered," "How We Travel." 
Macmillan Co., 40 c. each. 

3. Charters, W. W. — "Teaching the Common Branches," chap. 9. 

Houghton Mifflin Co. 

4. Dodge and Kirchwey — "The Teaching of Geography." Rand, 

McNally & Co. 

5. Flanagan — Little Journey Series (Library of Travel). Fifteen 

volumes at 50 c. each. Journeys through the following coun- 
tries: Cuba and Porto Rico; Hawaii and the Philippines; China 
and Japan; Mexico and Central America; Alaska and Canada; 
England and Wales; Ireland and Scotland; France and Switzer- 
land; Italy, Spain and Portugal; Holland, Belgium, and Den- 
mark; The Great Southwest; New England; Northern Wilds; 
South Africa; Our Western Wonderland. 

6. Freeman, F. N. — "The Psychology of the Common Branches," 

chap. 8. Houghton Mifflin Co. 

7. Herbertson — Descriptive Geographies from Original Sources. 

Adam & Chas. Black, London. Six volumes at 75 c. "North 
America," "Central and South America," "Europe," "Asia" 
(90 c), "Africa," "Australia and Oceanica." 

8. Kendall and Mirick — "How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects," 

chap. IV. Houghton Mifflin Co. 

9. National Geographic Magazine, Washington, D. C. $2.50 per year. 

10. Perry, Mason Co. — Companion Series. "By Land and Sea," 

"Our Country East," "Our Country West." 

11. Silver— "The World and Its People." "Our Own Country," 50 c.; 

"Our American Neighbors," 60 c.; "Modern Europe," 60 c.; 
"Life in Asia," 60 c; "Views in Africa," 60 c; "Australia and 
the Islands of the Sea," 68 c; "Hawaii and Its People," 68 c; 
"South America," 60 c; "Porto Rico," 50 c; "Our American 
Neighbors," 60 c. 

12. Wilson, H. B. and G. M.— "The Motivation of School Work," 

chap. 8. Houghton Mifflin Co. 



CHAPTER XI 

HISTORY 

Preliminary Problems 

1. Find out what kind of historical facts the pupil most easily remem- 

bers. 

2. Does the pupil voluntarily use historical reasons for things now 

existing? 

3. How does the pupil think of relationships implying lapse of time? 

4. Is the pupil able to see the other side when the United States is 

involved in a controversy? 

5. What American or European heroes or characters has the pupil 

become familiar with before the formal study of history? 

6. What is the pupil's attitude toward Europe and the particular 

countries of Europe? 

7. Do the younger pupils enjoy dramatizing famous historical scenes? 

8. Does the pupil use a knowledge of geography in studying events 

in which the geographical situation is an important factor? 

9. Does the pupil know how to draw maps? 

10. Does the pupil voluntarily read historical accounts or stories? 

The Aim. — Good teaching of history should enable the 
pupil to understand more fully the community of which he 
is a member, and to appreciate with increasing clearness his 
relations to it. This constitutes the claim of the subject to 
an important place in the curriculum of the common schools. 
Such a claim could be based upon the fact that interest in the 
personages and events of the past is as ancient as human 
society, and that history is one of the most characteristic 
forms of all Hteratures. Nevertheless, the value of a subject 
for the instruction and satisfaction of men and women might 
be undoubted while its usefulness in the education of children 
remained obscure. The relish of the child for historical tales 
is hardly a sufi&cient reason. 

251 



2^2 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

History as a Mode of Explanation. — Historical knowledge 
is often spoken of as if it were hardly more than a polite 
accompKshment, furnishing the means of recognizing refer- 
ences met in conversation or in reading. It is needless to 
argue that such a view is superficial. The best explanation 
of a law, an institution, a custom, or a belief is frequently 
its history. Nearly everything characteristic of the com- 
munity, be this large or small, city, state, or nation, is a 
growth, a structure. Each generation has added to the 
whole for better or worse. The result is incomprehensible 
without some account, that is, a history, of the changes, the 
reasons for them, and the way they were made. 

The service of history as a method of explanation is more 
obvious in some cases than in others. For example, an ac- 
count of elections which should say nothing of the reasons 
drawn from experience, that is, from history, for the change 
from nomination by convention to direct nominations would 
not be very enlightening. Again, who would venture to ex- 
plain without the aid of history the varieties of religious 
belief and practice in the United States? The same is true 
of industrial facts. Descriptive geography may explain par- 
tially the importance of a city like Chicago, but the explana- 
tion will become clearer and fuller when the history of the 
city is given, showing how it was affected by the building of 
railroads, the development of water-routes, the movement of 
population, and the changes in the methods of industry. 

Information. — In seeking to show that the study of his- 
tory is vital to any adequate comprehension of the essential 
features of our modern American life, it is not intended to 
ignore or belittle the value of mere historical information. 
There are many facts of which the intelligent man or woman 
is obliged sooner or later to take account that are purely his- 
torical and can be acquired only by a study or reading of 
history. Where but to history are we to turn for the facts 
which lie behind the race question in the South, for the mean- 
ing of the phrase ^' Solid South," for the interpretation of the 



HISTORY 253 

Monroe Doctrine, the possession of the Philippine Islands 
and Porto Rico, the make-up of our population, the origin of 
trusts and labor organizations, and a host of other condi- 
tions? In some of these cases even a little knowledge of 
history would serve as a corrective of much superficial and 
prejudiced opinion, which at times becomes dangerous in a 
democracy with new direct and rapid modes of action. 

Moral Value of History. — From an understanding of the 
part others have taken in making the community what it is, 
the pupil inevitably comes to a clearer appreciation of his 
relation to it. Knowledge does not make every one wise or 
public-spirited or patriotic, but it quickens the sense of re- 
sponsibility in those who have the right disposition. If a 
boy once follows the history of a law providing for the com- 
pensation of workmen injured in accidents, for regulating the 
hours of labor, or for controlling the employment of women 
and children — laws which may aflect vitally the members of 
his own family — he is likely to acquire a more intelHgent 
sense of his future duties as a citizen in regard to legislation. 
The history of a city, rather than its statistics of population, 
trade, and wealth, will tend to awaken true civic pride and 
loyalty. The long story of industry, of invention, of the 
efforts to better the conditions under which work is done, of 
the increasing interdependence of industries, those of the 
nation and of the world, as well as those of a particular local- 
ity, should make work more interesting, quicken the spirit of 
co-operation, and render more reasonable the attitude of 
those on different sides of industrial questions. If we rise to 
higher conceptions still, we may ask: How can a boy or girl 
remain devoid of love of country when once taught the story 
of the adventurous spirits who discovered and explored it, 
of the many sacrifices made to defend it, and of the great 
men and women whom it has produced ? 

Mental Training. — Work in history has other values for 
the pupil. It trains the historical imagination. Using the 
materials made familiar by the child's ordinary associations 



254 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

of the home, the street, the church, and of civic Kfe, history 
builds up pictures and images of many situations, political, 
social, or religious, giving the child power vividly to realize 
more and more what the world is and to see what it has been. 
Through stories of great men and women, history enriches 
the child's conceptions of character. The social judgment is 
also trained. Contact, even in the brief paragraphs of the 
text-book or through the words of the teacher, with many 
actual problems of conduct or pohcy, leaves impressions or 
invites opinions. Such activities of the mind also have a 
moral value, for they prepare the growing youth to make 
wiser choices as the practical problems of his community con- 
front him. As an incident to the presentation of the many 
situations which make up the history of our own or other 
peoples, the pupil is necessarily taught to organize facts, to 
perceive their relative importance, to study them in a correct 
perspective. These statements suggest only a few of the 
ways in which historical study may serve in training the 
child's mind in valuable specific connections. 

A Formative Influence. — Success in teaching history is 
only partial until the pupil's original interest in the varied 
experiences of the past becomes so strong that it will con- 
tinue to act as a formative influence in his intellectual growth. 
The realization of such an ideal will be more certain if he is 
taught some use of books and if his taste for reading is en- 
couraged to include historical books adapted to his years. 

The Course of Study. — The place of history in the cur- 
riculum is not finally determined. The present tendency is 
to have it represented in every grade. In the early grades 
the work commonly suggested is pictures from history or 
historical types rather than history; for the idea of sequence 
in time, or chronological development, which is essential to 
history, is necessarily absent. The use of historical mate- 
rial, however, enriches the beginner's imagination and fur- 
nishes his mind with words and images which will become 
its tools in later work. 



HISTORY 255 

The debatable land in the course is found in the work for 
the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The question for these 
grades is affected by the increasing demand for more atten- 
tion in programs to the European background of American 
history and civilization. Thoughtful persons are beginning 
to realize that the child who is taught only what has hap- 
pened on American soil will gain a very inadequate idea of 
American civilization, which is, in its origin, chiefly European. 
The older conception of American history was provincial, 
and was calculated to produce provincial minds. The prob- 
lem is how and where is this related European history to be 
inserted ? The answer is rendered difficult by the fact that a 
great many school children leave school as soon as the laws 
permit them to work as regular employees. These children 
do not advance ordinarily beyond the fifth grade. If the 
thorough study of American history is reserved for the sev- 
enth and eighth grades — which is the usual and reasonable 
practice — it would seem necessary to insert a previous and 
simpler treatment for the sake of the pupils who leave early. 

The Committee of Eight of the American Historical Asso- 
ciation has attempted to solve the problem by devoting the 
fourth and fifth years to the study of leading characters and 
typical scenes taken from the Colonial and national periods. 
This is to be followed in the sixth grade by the study of 
events, arts, and customs, selected from Greek, Roman, and 
mediaeval life, which explain the civilization carried by the 
Colonial emigrants to America. To such material about 
two-thirds of the sixth year are to be devoted, while the 
remainder is to be reserved for topics from the history of dis- 
covery and exploration, with the attendant European rival- 
ries, as far as the year 1600. This plan has been criticised 
as overloading the sixth year, but the criticism has usually 
been based on the mistaken notion that the plan calls for 
the systematic treatment of ancient and mediaeval history, 
instead of the study of typical features of these periods. In 
Indiana the attempt has been made to avoid the danger of 



256 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

overloading the sixth grade by using in the third and lourth 
years many stories from the history of Greece and Rome. 
The Indiana course for the sixth grade is based upon Enghsh, 
instead of general European, history. In a curriculum pub- 
lished in 1908 by Teachers College, Columbia University, 
there is a fuller treatment of Greek, Roman, and mediaeval 
history, covering about a year and a half, placed between 
the study of American typical characters and the fuller con- 
sideration of American history at the close of the course. 

Subject Matter: Grades i to 3.— The subject matter for 
the first two grades, and to some extent for the third grade, 
is drawn commonly from primitive hfe, especially from that 
of the American Indians. Certain plans take their guiding 
thought from the sequence in epochs of culture, giving to 
the pupils of the first grade problems of food and clothing, 
to those of the second grade pastoral and agricultural life, 
and to those of the third the beginnings of trade, travel, and 
discovery. In the Teachers College course this leads in turn 
to the study of local history, the discoveries of Henry Hud- 
son, and the Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island. The 
same idea is worked out in the course prepared for the Ele- 
mentary School of the University of Chicago. 

The successful use of any of these plans calls for a right 
choice of material and skilful methods of presentation. It 
is evident that the work must be oral and that it should be 
supplemented by simple tasks of construction assigned to 
the pupils. The teacher's first care is the selection of stories. 
Of these many fists exist. In a '' Bibliography of History," by 
Andrews, GambriU, and Tall, pubfished under the auspices 
of the Association of History Teachers of the Middle States 
and Maryland, many books are mentioned, and their useful- 
ness or adaptabifity to the needs of the several grades is 
stated. The opinions are based upon actual use by teachers. 
Other lists will be found in the ''Report of the Committee of 
Eight," in Talkington's ''How to Teach History and Civics 
in the Grades," and in McMurry's "Special Method in His- 



HISTORY 257 

tory." The teacher's next task is to learn how to tell such 
stories, unless she has already received the necessary training 
in normal schools or in the training-schools connected with 
the Hbraries of the larger cities. By study of the best printed 
stories and by practice, noting the methods which hold the 
attention of the children, the teacher may solve the problem 
for herself. Suggestions on method may be found in Mc- 
Murry, Talkington, and especially in Sara Cone Bryant's 
*'How to Tell Stories to Children." 

The story should be interrupted or supplemented by ques- 
tions framed in such a way that the pupils will be led to 
work out for themselves the problems which it presents. If, 
for example, they are studying pastoral Ufe, they may be 
asked such questions as the following: ''Will these men be 
Ukely to choose a warm or a cold country? A moist or a 
dry one ? Will they need for their flocks forests or open land ? 
How long will they be likely to remain in one place? What 
kind of a house will it be wise for them to build, one like 
ours, or one like the nomadic hunter? How will they care 
for the sheep in stormy weather?"^ As the pupils are nat- 
urally active with their hands, their work may be accom- 
panied by tasks of construction. The Committee of Eight 
suggests the construction in the first grade of an Indian 
wigwam on a sand-table moulded to present the arrangements 
of Indian home life. 

In the third grade the Committee of Eight suggests as a 
part of the work, stories of the ''Heroes of Other Times," as 
Moses, Ulysses, Alexander, Cincinnatus, Tell, Alfred, and 
Joan of Arc. The Indiana course emphasizes tales from 
Hebrew life, reserving two-thirds of the time for tales from 
Greece. Other courses use Phoenician traders and discover- 
ers, or the vikings. 

Much use is made in these grades of national and local 
anniversaries — Thanksgiving Day, Washington's Birthday, 
Memorial Day, Independence Day, Columbus Day, etc. 

^ " Elementary School Curriculum," p. 124. 



258 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

This offers the opportunity to make the children familiar 
with a few outstanding features of American history. ^ Care 
should be taken, however, that as the anniversaries recur the 
same stories be not repeated too many times, for that is a 
sure method of wearying the pupils of the very names and 
ideas they should be taught to honor. 

Grades 4 and 5. — Whether typical scenes and persons 
from American history be given in the fourth and fifth grades 
or only in the fifth grade, the teacher should be cautioned 
not to attempt to cover too much ground. Many leading 
characters must be omitted, in order that those included 
may be treated with detail sufficient to leave upon the pupil's 
mind a distinct and permanent impression. The list may 
well be varied according to the location of the school. For 
example, it would be impossible to omit Ponce de Leon in 
Florida, but his career is less important for the child of the 
Northwest. Coronado should be particularly interesting to 
children of the Southwest, but not so much to children of 
New England. The remote is difficult for the child to pic- 
ture, unless the remoteness is merely geographical. The story 
may be very close to the child's interest because of his love 
of the marvellous. Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain 
of Youth may, accordingly, be of value to any child without 
regard to locality. Heroes of peace and industry, like Frank- 
lin, Whitney, Fulton, Clinton, should be as prominent in the 
list as heroes of war on sea or land. In deahng with any 
character chosen the first effort should be to awaken in the 
child's mind a sympathetic interest. Facts drawn from the 
boyhood of such persons will serve this purpose. The child 
finds it difficult to put himself in the place of a grown per- 
son, while he is powerfully affected by the experiences of one 
as young as himself. 

Part of the time in these grades should be devoted to 
typical scenes and situations from American history: An early 

^The much used book for teachers entitled "Jean Mitchell's School" is 
largely made up of the story of how a teacher utilized special days of this kind. 



HISTORY 259 

settlement on the coast, a fur-trader's station on the frontier, 
Colonial industry, a settlement beyond the mountains in 
Kentucky or Ohio, a plantation in the South, a mining-camp, 
a cattle-ranch, or a wheat farm in the West. The Hst, as in 
the case of persons, should depend somewhat on the locality. 

Persons and scenes should frequently be treated accord- 
ing to the method of the type lesson. This is a complete 
study of a single topic in a way adapted to the needs of the 
children of a particular grade. The impressions which the 
pupil receives from the vividness of these intensive and de- 
tailed studies of typical events, instead of from a vague treat- 
ment of the whole story, will be carried over to other similar 
topics in the hst, which may then be treated more briefly. 
These type lessons should follow one another, so far as pos- 
sible, in chronological order, that the pupil may be led un- 
consciously to begin the construction of his framework of 
American history. His historical knowledge, elementary as 
it is, should not be merely a string of edifying anecdotes. 

Sixth Grade. — In planning the work of the sixth grade, if 
it is to include the European background, based either upon 
European history or mainly upon English history, topics and 
facts should be selected for their bearing upon the develop- 
ment of America, that is, upon the history of the United 
States. The advantage of choosing general European his- 
tory is that this plan makes possible a more just presentation 
of what the peoples of the Continent, as well as the Enghsh, 
have contributed to our growth. It facihtates also the ac- 
quisition of a view of the way in which the civilized world 
has been enlarged, or moved, from its ancient seats on the 
banks of the Nile, the Euphrates, and the Tigris, or on the 
shores of the Mediterranean. Two formative ideas are to 
be kept in mind: the rise of the arts and customs which con- 
stitute one essential element of our civilization and the direc- 
tion which the geographical extension of civiHzed mankind 
has taken. The latter idea permits close correlation between 
geographical and historical facts. 



200 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

In such a course there can be no attempt to teach the full 
history of any people, either Greek, Roman, or English. The 
task is to explain how the Greeks or the Romans, the EngKsh, 
Germans, French, Spaniards, or the ItaHans became our 
teachers in arts, customs, beliefs, and in ways of government. 
The study of formal ancient, medieval, or EngKsh history 
should be preserved for the secondary school. 

The method of presenting the material for the sixth grade, 
and even for the fifth, should be based upon the use of the 
text-book. Care in the selection of topics is vital to success, 
and the average teacher, without the advantage of large col- 
lections of books or the leisure to use them, cannot be ex- 
pected to *'get up" the topics. She may well plan to sup- 
plement the matter which is necessarily presented in very 
brief form in the text-book. 

Seventh and Eighth Grades : Principal Topics. — The selec- 
tion of matter for the final treatment of American history in 
the elementary school is not a closed question as soon as a 
particular text-book is chosen. Text-books were once made 
under the impression that the principal aim of the history 
course was to produce politicians, constitutional lawyers, or 
miHtary commanders. The tradition still Kngers in some 
quarters. The teacher who is in sympathy with the *'New 
History," which is at least as old as Guizot, should empha- 
size the sections on industrial and social history. This may 
be done both by giving needed explanations in detail, by add- 
ing such other material as she or her pupils can find in refer- 
ence books, and by laying Kttle stress on, or omitting, less 
important topics, remembering that the aim is to help the 
children to an understanding and appreciation of the world 
to-day as they need to know it. The teacher's desk or the 
school library should be provided with such books as Bogart's 
or Coman's ''Industrial History of the United States," Brig- 
ham's or Semple's books on " Geographic Influences in Ameri- 
can History," and Sparks's ''Expansion of the American 
People." 



HISTORY 261 

Characteristic Movements. — There are certain character- 
istic movements which should guide the teacher in placing the 
emphasis and in supplementing the material furnished by 
the text-book. One of the most important is emigration 
from Europe, both in the Colonial and in the national periods; 
its causes, ways and means, and results in settlement. From 
this study it will appear that even in the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries the American population had several 
important elements besides the English, namely, Scotch- 
Irish, German, Dutch, and French. Another great topic is 
the westward movement: Routes, location of settlements, 
occupations adopted, cities, and their spheres of influence, 
and development of means of communication. Still another 
topic is the change from household industries to the factory 
system. It is also necessary to follow carefully the develop- 
ment of the plantation system in its relation to slavery, espe- 
cially after the invention of the cotton-gin seemed to be 
making cotton ''king." The renewal of the South after the 
war and the rapid development of the Far West should be 
made prominent during the latter part of the course. These 
are not topics to be treated once or twice, but are to be kept 
constantly in mind as long-continued processes, furnishing 
points of view from which to organize much of the work. 

Relations of History and Geography. — Geography and 
chronology have been called the two eyes of history. Some 
theorists believe that history can dispense with one of them, 
declaring that ''Freed from chronology, the near and the 
remote may become equally potent in the life of the child." 
Teachers occasionally make the contrary mistake and resolve 
history into Hsts of names and dates. The commonest error, 
however, is to fail in appreciating the close relations between 
history and geography. It is not enough to require the 
pupils to locate on the map places mentioned in the text, or 
to see that they become familiar with changing boundary- 
lines and territorial extensions — -they must be taught to view 
historical movements in their geographical setting. Two or 
three illustrations will show how this may be accomplished. 



262 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Geography and the Occupation of the Mississippi Valley. 

— In order to understand the struggle of the French and the 
Enghsh for the Mississippi Valley, the pupil must first study 
the Appalachian barrier and the passes by which it may be 
penetrated. He will then realize the advantage which the 
French gained by the founding of Quebec and Montreal and 
the discovery of the upper lakes. The consequence was that 
Father Marquette reached the Mississippi River within two 
years after the Virginians had with difficulty made their way 
over the Blue Ridge as far as the headwaters of the Kanawha. 
At the southern end of the Mississippi Valley the French 
occupation under Iberville barely anticipated the seizure of 
the country by Englishmen from the Carolinas. Meanwhile 
the English had begun their encroachments on the north from 
the Hudson Bay country and, more directly, at the mouth 
of the St. Lawrence. Such a struggle becomes far clearer in 
its geographical setting than if its chronology alone serves 
as a means of organizing details. 

Westward Movement. — The method is equally useful in 
presenting the westward movement in the nineteenth century, 
when natural features were being modified by the construc- 
tion of canals and the use of steamboats upon the waterways 
of the interior as well as later by the building of railroads. 

Study of Wars. — In teaching the history of the important 
wars the geographical setting should be used, treating chro- 
nology as secondary. For example, in the Revolutionary 
War the position of the Colonial armies between the coast 
and the mountains, the possession of the sea as a base by the 
British, with incursions inland as characteristic incidents, are 
vital elements in the presentation, and if properly handled 
will make the struggle more intelligible to the pupils. The 
loss of the sea-base in the Yorktown campaign was fatal to 
the British cause. 

Civil War. — Soon after the Civil War opened the North 
had secure control of the sea as a base of operations against 
any part of the long coast-line of the Confederacy. On the 
land side there were two theatres of conflict, one east of the 



HISTORY 263 

Appalachian barrier, the other west. A study of the early- 
Confederate lines of defense in the West reveals the use made 
of the high bluffs on the Mississippi, of navigable waterways 
like the Tennessee and the Cumberland, of railroad centres 
like Bowling Green and Corinth, and of mountain gaps. 
Similar illustrations may be found in the geographical fea- 
tures of Virginia. It is far clearer to set the facts in such a 
geographical framework than to group them only by cam- 
paigns or by years. 

Management of Work: Plans. — The teacher should, be- 
fore the opening of the term, make out a detailed plan, with 
lesson assignments including the minor topics to be empha- 
sized during the lesson, and even the more important ques- 
tions which may be asked. The lessons may be grouped 
under the head of larger topics, as 'Xolonial Immigration," 
or the ''Westward Movement," or the ''Slavery Conflict." 
Some teachers place in vertical columns the subject matter 
of a term's work, divided horizontally into the approximate 
portions which are to be covered. When history and geog- 
raphy are placed together, evident correlations may be 
utihzed. The aim is not to construct a rigid scheme, but 
only a working plan, subject to modifications as the lessons 
proceed. Without it the management of the work will fre- 
quently be left to the chance suggestions of overcrowded 
hours. ^ 

Graded Work. — ^As the work should include, besides the 
mastery of the text-book, other tasks: for example, type 
lessons, map-making, studies from pictures, readings, com- 
parisons, summaries of long-continued movements, reviews 
of periods, etc., these should appear in the plan in their ap- 
propriate position. Several of them imply training and 
should be graded from the more simple to the more complex 
and difficult. Their place in the plan should be studied care- 
fully, in order that the interest of the pupil may be stimu- 
lated and that he may become conscious that the study of 

^ See also the plans given in Strayer's "The Teaching Process." 



264 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

history will give him increase in intelligent skill as well as 
stores of information. For example, the exercises in the 
construction of maps should be graded, like lessons in draw- 
ing. The utilization of pictures is another illustration. A 
sufficient interval of time should separate one exercise from 
another of the same kind to avoid monotony. 

Lesson Assignments. — Some teachers spend a part, even 
half, of the recitation period in preparing the pupils to learn 
the next lesson. They give them an outline on leading ques- 
tions, or go over the paragraphs in detail in order to teach 
the pupils how to study. Here again a method which may 
be necessary in the early stages of the work must be modified 
later. The pupil should gain the power to organize and 
master material with which he is unfamiliar. He should not 
get the notion that the work is to be done for him. Probably 
at no time in the course can he be left solely to his own 
initiative, but the amount and nature of the suggestions 
should be changed as his capacity develops. The amount 
varies also with the nature of the material of the particular 
lesson. In some cases this material is all narrative or it is 
on the same topic and is of simple character, while in other 
cases the text seems to be a collection of names and places, 
set in unfamiliar circumstances, and the child's imagination 
is pulled and hauled about until it is hopelessly bewildered. 

Text-Book. — The first care of the teacher is that the 
pupils understand how to read the text-book. She should 
be on the watch for words, phrases, and general statements 
above the mental level of the class. The pupils should be 
encouraged to discover these and point them out. Text- 
books often contain generahzations, dictated by the need of 
brevity, which are mere words to the pupil unacquainted 
with the details upon which the statement is based. More- 
over, the act of generalization is largely beyond his capacity 
in this field. The teacher must, accordingly, be ready to 
substitute simple, illustrative details. By constantly in- 
sisting that the text-book shall be understood and by help- 



HISTORY 265 

fully guiding his study, the teacher is assisting the pupil to 
form the habit of alert reading. The length of the text-book 
assignment cannot be fixed arbitrarily, for at a particular 
stage of the work a good plan may call for other tasks, a 
map, perhaps, or a type lesson.^ 

Outlines. — The making of a lesson outline may have a 
double value; it gives the pupil a better understanding of the 
subject matter, and it trains his mind in the orderly arrange- 
ment of facts. It is a task which he must be taught, and 
one which, as he proceeds, may well call for greater skill in 
thoughtful analysis. The teacher may furnish the outHnes 
at first, but soon she should require the pupils to assist her 
or to make them alone. If made by the pupil, they should 
be copied in his note-book, and the best one or two written 
on the blackboard. After the pupils have learned to make 
outlines some other task should be substituted, in order to 
avoid the danger that such work may become mechanical 
and dull. Pupils frequently save themselves the labor of 
real analysis by using in their outline the paragraph headings 
in the text-book. Instead of the outline, Hsts of questions or 
one or two problems may be assigned. The pupils may also 
be asked to suggest questions for which the statements in 
the text-book furnish no answer. The problem method of 
teaching history, or the large use of definite problems, aids in 
developing a thoughtful attitude toward social movements. 
Still other substitutes for the outline of the individual lesson 
are outlines of a movement which has been the leading topic 
for several lessons, or summaries of the characteristics of 
some party, or section of the country, or period. Variety 
and progress in the nature of the work are essential. 

Questioning. — The principal work of the recitation hour 
will be done through the question and answer. The teacher 
should not lecture to pupils in the elementary grades. Ex- 
planations may be given, facts may be added to those stated 

1 See McMurry's "How to Study, and Teaching Children How to Study," 
and Dewey's "How We Think." 



266 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

in the text-book, and illustrative incidents told, but these 
should play a subordinate part. The teacher should there- 
fore study thoughtfully the art of questioning. 

Two Cases. — The question may have one of two princi- 
pal aims. On the one hand, it may call for an answer pre- 
senting information contained in the text-book and in refer- 
ence reading, or, on the other hand, it may provoke thought 
upon the relation of one fact in the lesson to another. In 
the first case, the question should usually be so framed as to 
require a complete answer; it should not permit the pupil to 
give mere fragments of statement. It should therefore seize 
the heart of the matter. Pupils easily slip into the habit of 
answering with scraps of sentences, throwing upon the teacher 
the responsibihty of drawing out other bits of information 
by further questioning. If the work in history is not to undo 
the work in English, such answers must not be tolerated. 
Sometimes the pupil is unable to organize the facts, because 
he has not learned how to study and to think. In such cases 
the teacher is justified in changing the form of the questions 
so that the power of orderly presentation may be developed. 
Undeveloped power should, however, not be confused with 
mental inertness. The teacher should remember that there 
are others in the class, and that by fingering too long over 
individual difiiculties the fife of the class may be destroyed. 
It is better, for the most part, to deal with such cases 
privately. 

As questions, or problems, of the second kind call for 
thought in directions which the text-book does not always 
point out, the teacher should expect to guide the pupfi's 
mind, unless the relation of facts is simple or the problem 
readily solved. Suppose, for example, that the general topic 
is the Revolutionary War and the class is considering the cry 
of the colonists against "taxation without representation." 
The teacher might ask the rather hard question: "Why was 
the British retort that the colonists were represented as much 
as the people of Birmingham and Manchester not satisfac- 



HISTORY 267 

tory?" The pupils would need guidance to see that they 
must first learn whether the colonists and the British officials 
had the same idea of representation, and that this could be 
found by comparing the system of representation in Massa- 
chusetts with that in England. Another problem which 
would have to be separated into its elements would be: "Were 
the good people of New England justified in smuggling sugar 
and molasses from the French West Indies?" 

Maps.— The schoolroom should be furnished with a set 
of historical wall maps and with an historical atlas to supple- 
ment the maps contained in the text-book. All should be 
utiHzed as material for answers to simple problems in his- 
torical geography. In dealmg with the discoveries and early 
explorations the maps made at that time should be utihzed. 
Copies of these will be found in the text-book or in historical 
reference books and atlases. The difficulties of De Soto, 
Coronado, and La Salle are inconceivable from a modern map. 

The work should include the construction of maps, ordi- 
narily with the use of printed outHnes of which many kinds 
exist. The pupils will not learn a map merely from looking 
at one, they will master its principal features only by repro- 
ducing them. Their most common task, however, should be 
working out special geographical situations. Historical maps 
are usually designed to illustrate the movements of a whole 
period, and are covered with names which have no bearing 
upon the situation under consideration. In studying the 
westward movement, for example, the pupil may be asked 
to mark on an outline map the principal roads and canals in 
existence in 1825, and, again, the earhest western railroads. 
The class should be taught both drawing in colors and draw- 
ing in black and white. Neatness, accuracy, and good taste 
should be required. 

Pictures. — It is not enough to use pictures to stimulate 
the pupil's interest in persons and places; they should, like 
maps, be treated as material for systematic study. This 
implies the existence of a collection sufficiently extensive to 



268 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

illustrate many phases of the subject. For example — to take 
the westward movement again — its understanding would be 
facilitated if the teacher could show photographs or postal- 
card reproductions of the St. Lawrence River, the Lachine 
Rapids, the Mohawk Valley, Wills Creek, the passes in the 
Blue Ridge, the upper Tennessee, and Cumberland Gap. 
In the same way, for the study of the modes of emigration, 
much use could be made of a set of pictures on the develop- 
ment of the ship from the time of the Venetians to the days 
of the Vaterland and the Aquitania, or later. Pictures are 
needed, also, as aids to a comprehension of the economic life 
of the country, its plantations, its western farms, its railroad 
centres and great canals. For the study of such topics, 
questions should be prepared the answers to which could be 
worked out from the pictures by the pupils.^ 

Reading. — In selecting books or passages in books for the 
pupils to read care should be taken that the descriptions or 
the narrative touch facts within the circle of the pupil's in- 
terest and are presented in a simple form. In the case of 
books like Hart's ''Source Readers" this has been done al- 
ready by the editor. Books by able historians are not often 
adapted to the purpose, being addressed to mature men and 
women. The story must predominate. Biography is the 
most serviceable. It is not enough to find a book on a rec- 
ommended Hst; the teacher should personally see if it is 
adapted to the needs of her particular group. 

Note-Books. — In the elementary school the note-book 
should be used only as the collected form of the exercises as- 
signed to the children during the term. It should contain 
the assignment of lessons, the outlines given by the teacher 
or made under her direction, summaries, and maps. In it 
may well be kept the original of each examination-paper 
written by the pupil, with the teacher's corrections. If the 
teacher gives from time to time important facts not con- 

^A list of firms publishing pictures and postal cards may be found in the 
History Teachers' Magazine for June, 1913. 



HISTORY 269 

tained in the text-book, these may be entered in the note- 
book from the teacher's dictation. The pupils should not be 
expected to take notes from oral explanations given in any 
other way. Above all, no mere task work should appear in 
the note-books; indeed, no such work should be required. 

SUMMARY 

1. History enables the pupil to understand more fully the community 

of which he is a member. 

2. History quickens local pride and national patriotism, by showing 

that men and women of past generations have contributed to 
the growth both of the individual community and of the whole 
country, 

3. The course in history should be continuous and its parts should 

be carefully correlated. 

4. For the earlier grades the material should be concrete — facts within 

the range of the pupiPs experience and presented in the form 
of story or simple description. 

5. The work of the last three grades should open with stories, de- 

scriptions, and explanations chosen from the European back- 
ground, that is, from the beginnings in Europe of customs and 
ways of living which we use in America. 

6. Industrial and social facts should not be crowded out by the story 

of politics, wars, and governmental institutions. 

7. In presenting historical facts the geographical setting should be 

more frequently and intelligently used. 

8. The term's work should be carefully planned, in order that the 

pupils may not merely accumulate facts but gain in ability to 
comprehend historical situations and to distinguish between 
the true and the false. 

9. In the methods employed variety and progress are essential. 

10. The teacher should select collateral reading, with a view to the 
needs and capacity of the pupil. Only carefully sifted lists 
should be relied upon. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

1. Find the history of some local custom or institution. 

2. Learn what customs, beliefs, and institutions the original settlers 

had. 

3. Learn the story of the invention most useful in the particular 

community. 



270 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

4. Is Lincoln regarded in the same way by the children of the South 

and the North? 

5. What buildings in the town or city have a Greek fagade; what 

churches are Romanesque or Gothic? 

6. To what extent is the nearest river used for transportation ? 

7. What is the nearest range of mountains and the nearest pass? 

8. What important events in the history of the United States hap- 

pened within a hundred miles of the community ? 

9. Which pupil can find the largest number of words or phrases in 

the next lesson which are not understood ? 
10. Which pupil can ask the best question implying a relation between 
a fact of the lesson and a fact in a lesson studied at least two 
weeks before? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Bagley, W. C. — "Minimal Essentials in History," 14th and i6th 

Yearbooks of the National Society for the Study of Education, 
part I. Public School PubHshing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

2. Bourne, H. E. — "Teaching of History and Civics," especially 

chap. XIX. New York, Longman's. 

3. Charters, W. W. — "Teaching the Common Branches," chaps. 

10 and II. Houghton. 

4. Committee of Eight — "The Study of History in the Elementary 

Schools." New York, Scribner. 

5. Freeman, F. N. — "The Psychology of the Common Branches," 

chap. 7. Boston, Houghton. 

6. Hartwell, E. C— "The Teaching of History." Boston, Houghton. 

7. Horn, Ernest — "Possible Defects in the Present Content of 

American History as Taught in the Schools," i6th Yearbook 
of the National Society for the Study of Education, part I. 
Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

8. Johnson, H. — "The Teaching of History." Macmillan. 

9. Kemp, E. W. — "An Outline of History for the Grades." — Boston, 

Ginn. 

10. Kendall and Mirick — "How to Teach the Fundamental Subjects," 

chap. 4. Houghton. 

11. McMurry, C. A. — "Special Method in History." New York, 

Macmillan. 

12. Mace, W. H. — "Method in History," especially 255-308. Boston, 

Ginn. New edition, Chicago, Rand, McNally. 

13. Rice, Emily J., and others. — "The Course of Study in History for 

the Common School." Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 



HISTORY 271 

14. Tryon, R. M. — "Materials, Methods, and Administration of His- 

tory Study in the Elementary Schools of the United States." 
Bloomington, Indiana University Bulletin. 

15. Article in Elementary School Journal, for May, 1916. 

16. Talkington, H. L. — ''How to Study and Teach History in the 

Grades." Bloomington, 111., Public School Publishing Co. 

17. Wayland, J. W. — "How to Teach^ American History." New 

York, Macmillan. 

18. The History Teacher^ s Magazine. McKinley Publishing Co. 

19. Wilson, H. B. and G. M. — "Motivation of School Work," chap. 7. 

Houghton. 



CHAPTER XII 
CIVICS 

Preliminary Problems 

1. Whom do you regard as the most efficient citizens of your com- 

munity? How did they gain their civic power? What did 
schools contribute? 

2. Is it true that in a democracy every intelligent and able-bodied 

person has both public and private duties? Is this true for 
women as well as men? 

3. In what ways is citizenship manifested? What are the marks 

of a good citizen? 

4. Is there any pubhc co-operative work in the way of improving 

the schools, eHminating saloons, getting pure water, improved 
streets, better roads, abler public officials, or improved com- 
munity recreation, that is not being done in your community? 
Why isn't it? 

5. What is the proportion of young women to young men who are 

getting a high-school and college education in your state ? Do 
educated women have more or less leisure for civic leadership 
than educated men to-day? 

6. What civic questions should be discussed by the people of your 

community? Where may they best meet for such discussion? 
Who should lead and suggest such public meetings? 

7. In what ways have you learned about civic opportunities and 

responsibilities? May a person know a great deal about civic 
needs and how to meet them and not do anything? Why? 

8. What stories or biographies can children read that will inspire 

them with right ideals of citizenship? 

9. How can we get children to act out, to Hve, and make habitual 

good citizenship? 
10. What is the relative value of time spent on community civics and 
on apothecaries' weight and other similar phases of arithmetic? 

I. The Problem of Civic Education 

Civic Efficiency is one of the five great aims of education. 

The nation that grows weak and uninterested civically is 

272 



CIVICS 273 

doomed to decay or revolution. The democracy which does 
not educate for vigorous and intelligent citizenship breaks 
down into a lower type of social organization. The indi- 
vidual who does not gain that education through participa- 
tion which a democracy affords can attain neither a high 
type of social efficiency nor self-realization and continued 
growth. As Aristotle long ago pointed out, a democracy is a 
highly complex and dehcate type of social organization which 
can succeed only when its educational system trains for 
democracy. He could not vision the tremendously complex 
civilization in which we, in the hope of achieving thereby a 
larger measure and a finer type of individual and social hap- 
piness, are trying out the experiment of democratic Hving. 
He probably would have considered democracy under our 
conditions impossible. 

Lowell tells us in his lecture on democracy that after the 
American constitution had been adopted, and the govern- 
ment with its duly elected officers had been started, people 
quite generally thought they had at last constructed a per- 
petual-motion machine — a self-active automatism which 
would run forever without their thought or care. Instead, 
they had entered upon a new and fragile type of co-operative 
life in a great continent millions of times larger and more 
populous than the Greek city-state democracy of old, and in 
an age when constant change and invention would keep life 
in an increasing turmoil of complexity and readjustment. 
They had done away with the king and queen at the top and 
they had made every man a king and every woman a queen. 
They had added to the private duties, which every one must 
bear, a great host of pubKc duties. They had vastly increased 
the opportunities and possibiHties of human life, but they 
had also greatly increased its dangers and responsibilities. 
What if people refused to meet their new pubHc duties and 
went on as before in their pursuit of private gain? What if 
the rich and powerful should gain control of the government, 
as in cases where democracy had been attempted in times 



274 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

past, and should gradually usurp all rights and privileges and 
make peasants and serfs of the masses of the people as they 
did in ancient Rome ? What if great immigrant hordes 
should come to our shores — as they have indeed come — and 
fail to take up in its fulness and richness the democratic life ? 
What if we should not be able to banish or avoid poverty, in- 
justice, criminahty, exploitation of our natural and human 
resources, preventable death and disease, and the great fears 
and evils which those who sought these shores and framed 
our government so fondly hoped they might forever prevent 
in this virgin land? 

The wide-spread failure to realize these hopes Washington, 
Jefferson, FrankHn, and others were kindly not permitted to 
forevision. Some of them lived to see that nothing less than 
a universal moulding of human nature along democratic Hnes 
would make possible the success of their great experiment. 
Some of them talked of general schooling of the masses or of 
special schooling of the leaders. Jefferson founded the Uni- 
versity of Virginia; Washington left a large sum, for those 
days, to found a national university at Washington; Franklin 
founded what later became the University of Pennsylvania. 
The Ordinance of the Northwest Territory treated specifically 
of education, although the Constitution contains no word on 
the subject, and set aside a section of land in every township 
with which to foster free schools. ''The schools the hope of 
democracy" finally became a battle-cry and a fixed convic- 
tion of many people. From 1820 to 1850 the struggle for 
free schools was on. In 1828 a man was arrested on the 
court-house steps of Philadelphia for speaking pubhcly in 
favor of free tax-supported public schools. ''Rank socialism 
and paternaKsm," they said. 

"Why should I who have no children be taxed for the 
schooling of other men's children?" asked one. ''Why 
should I who am already paying for the education of my 
children in private and parochial schools have to pay still 
more for the education of those who cannot afford such 



CIVICS 275 

schools!" exclaimed another. In Pennsylvania in 1835, a 
year after the free-school law had been passed, hundreds of 
lengthy petitions were sent in to the governor and assembly 
to force the repeal of the obnoxious law; the governor who 
had helped pass it was thrown out of office at the next elec- 
tion, and it was only through the eloquence of Thaddeus 
Stevens, backed by many devotees of democracy, far-visioned 
and disinterested citizens, that the law remained intact. 
Such was the struggle and the outcome in other states! 
Full manhood suffrage in all states did not become a reahty 
until about the same time, and woman suffrage is only to-day 
making every woman a queen in opportunity as well as in 
responsibihty and giving her the education and happiness 
which can come only from a broad participation in our demo- 
cratic life. "Education through participation" is as true a 
motto for grown-ups as it is for children. 

The Civic Failure of Schooling. — ^But the schools have 
lamentably failed to fulfil the civic functions expected of 
them by the forefathers. As suggested in our first chapter, 
the blind cannot well be leaders of the blind, and only civi- 
cally educated men and women can be expected to furnish, 
as teachers, the civic education anticipated by our fore- 
fathers. The people have largely forgotten this civic func- 
tion. They have not demanded and paid for men and women 
of maturity and professional training who would lead their 
children and their communities toward civic efficiency as an 
important goal of education. Our teachers, from the kinder- 
garten to the college, have had little direct training or par- 
ticipation in American citizenship; their knowledge of civic 
affairs is meagre and inadequate, since they have studied 
other matters; most of them are women, and as such have 
been denied the prime stimulus of participation and respon- 
sibility needed for developing a live interest in civic affairs; 
and, in general, the teaching body has not yet become effec- 
tive in promoting adequate American citizenship. 

Teachers have, of course, contributed much indirectly. 



2 70 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

The ability to read and write and a little knowledge of Ameri- 
can history is of value. Some schools have even given some 
knowledge of the framework of our government in the form 
of "civics," usually taught in subordination to some other 
subject, such as history. But this instruction has been of 
the driest and most non-functioning kind, consisting mostly 
of the study of the legal powers, salaries, and terms of office 
of government officials, with next to nothing about what these 
officials really do for us or how we can help them in return. 
The subject, really one of civic hygiene, has been made one 
of civic anatomy instead. Formerly, the method of amend- 
ing the Federal Constitution, the qualifications of judges of 
the supreme court, and the details of the proceedings in im- 
peachment cases were regarded as fundamental knowledge. 
To-day, knowledge, habits, ideals, and appreciations closely 
related to promoting community welfare, and through these 
and out of these, state, national, and world welfare, are being 
emphasized. 

In the past the teacher has not even had good text-books 
with which to teach citizenship, the texts being largely man- 
uals of the Federal Constitution. No books were written on 
the methods of teaching citizenship to which the teacher 
could refer. Hardly any effective experimentation in civic 
education was carried on. Normal schools and colleges gave 
little help, and the high schools were busy teaching other less 
valuable things. General literature in books and magazines 
contained Httle that was instructive or stimulating in this 
direction, and what was published lacked a style that would 
encourage reading. The great civic stories of all ages had 
not been selected for school use, and pupil self-government 
had hardly been given a trial. 

To-day the civic aim is beginning to be recognized. A 
great multitude of new agencies, public and private, have 
been estabHshed for promoting civic intelligence and civic 
welfare; while examples in participation in school and com- 
munity government and co-operation may be found on every 



CIVICS 277 

hand. Moreover, an increasing number of good civics texts 
are available, and there is little excuse for the schools not 
helping the people to realize this great aim of civic efficiency. 
As a minimal essential in any program of democratic school- 
ing, effective training in citizenship ranks high. That it will 
be one of the few required courses in elementary, secondary, 
and higher schools before very long is already apparent. 
Our present need is adequate and scientific selection of sub- 
ject matter, methods, and administration of civic instruction. 

II. A Program of Civic Education 

The old course in civics having lamentably failed within 
recent years, whatever its success may have been in the "sev- 
enties" and "eighties" when it was being generally intro- 
duced into the schools, the question is put directly up to the 
educators: "Have you anything better to take its place?" 
Fortunately, this may be answered in the affirmative, and 
the remainder of this chapter will be devoted to a discus- 
sion of the new type of civics. 

Theory of the New Civics. — The object of teaching, generally, 
may be stated as twofold: First, cultural, to acquaint the child with 
his environment; second, practical, to train for citizenship. There 
are various sorts of environment, each with its corresponding field of 
study. Among others is that man-made, social environment which 
we term the community, and the study of which we call civics. The 
community has been well-defined as a group of people in a single 
locality, bound together by common interests and subject to common 
rules or laws. And the various types of community include the home, 
the school, the church, the shop, the state. A citizen is any one who 
participates in community action, sharing its privileges and properly 
subject to a share in its duties and responsibilities. The good citizen 
is one who manfully shoulders his obligations as a citizen and performs 
his part well as a member of his community. All are citizens, whether 
young or old, for all are members of one or more of these communities 
— always including the state. 

Civics, then, on its cultural side is the study of that social environ- 
ment we call the community; on its practical side it is a training for 
efficient community service and particularly in that type of commu- 



278 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

nity which we term the state. And this leads us to the conclusion 
that civics as a school subject includes both a curriculum of studies 
and a curriculum of activities. How far away this leads us from the 
old-time book-memorizing endurance test can well be imagined. 

The steps in this newer sort of civic training would naturally be: 
first, to secure a fund of practical information about civic problems; 
second, to arouse interest in these problems; third, to stimulate to 
such co-operation with community agencies as the maturity and ex- 
perience of the pupil enables him (or her) to offer — for, be it remem- 
bered, the ''good citizen" must be good for something. Equally pat- 
ent, it would seem, but so long overlooked in the teaching of civics, 
is the method of approach. From the near to the remote, from the 
simple to the complex, from the concrete to the abstract, from func- 
tion to structure, from the small problem to the greater, from local to 
state and national, from matters of current interest to those of origin 
and growth — how else than by this method — at once scientific and 
common-sense — can the hve interest of boys and girls be roused and 
their wills and attitudes be trained to lend a hand wherever they 
can? And this making of good-for-something citizens — of city, state, 
and nation — is the final goal of the New Civics.' 

III. The Indianapolis Plan 

Two main types of civic education for the elementary 
school are emerging from the various attempts to organize 
this work along new lines, which may be termed the ''In- 
dianapolis Plan" and the ''Philadelphia Plan," respectively. 
While one in aim and in point of view, these differ materially 
in method and in detail. Each has much to learn of the 
other, and in time the two methods will no doubt become 
substantially identical. 

The following brief description of the civics work in the 
IndianapoHs schools is based on a careful analysis of it made 
by one of its promoters, Mr. Arthur W. Dunn, and given by 
him in Bulletin No. 17, 1915, U. S. Bureau of Education. 

Civics Correlated with Other Activities in First Seven 
Grades. — In Indianapolis civics is not taught as a separate 
subject till the eighth grade, though it permeates all the work 

^ Quotation from Professor Barnard's article in The Annals for September, 
1916, a volume entitled "New Possibilities in Education." 



CIVICS 279 

of the school from the first year to the eighth. Mr. Dunn 
says of this that the aim is "to make of education, not a 
process of instruction in a variety of subjects, but a process 
of Kving, of growth, during which the various relations of 
Hfe are unfolded — civic, geographical, historical, ethical, vo- 
cational, and so on," following largely Professor Dewey's 
ideas. Accordingly, the EngHsh, the mathematics, the geog- 
raphy, the history, the construction work, even the school 
gardening and the playground activities, are correlated and 
utilized as a part of the child's civic education. 

Naturally, history and geography are the studies that 
lend themselves most easily to the "socializing" process. 
Throughout the fourth year geography serves as "the chief 
centre for the organization of historical and civic knowledge," 
while the sixth year finds history sharing this honor. Wher- 
ever practicable, the work in Enghsh composition, both oral 
and written, "draws largely for its materials" on both the 
geography and the history, and "affords an opportunity for 
the discussion of civic questions." 

What is more remarkable than the civic history and civic 
geography is the "community arithmetic." This is nothing 
more nor less than the ordinary arithmetic getting its data 
from the hfe in which the children participate and "fixing 
important social and civic ideas" in their minds. But imag- 
ine a course in arithmetic that trains the pupil to calculate 
the cost of furnishing a real home, of Hghting and heating it, 
of providing the food and other necessities for a day or a week, 
always having in mind the possible savings that may be 
effected by careful buying; and that then goes to work on 
some of the "actual operations or transactions in the indus- 
tries of Indianapolis." And what is more, the business men 
of that city are helping to formulate these problems in "com- 
munity arithmetic." From these the transition is easily 
made to problems relating to the various governmental agen- 
cies of the city, such as the fire department or the city hos- 
pital. Naturally, the problems "vary from school to school 



28o TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

and from time to time, in accordance with current interest 
and occasion." 

Emphasis has been placed on the "community arithmetic" 
because it so well illustrates the method and the point of 
view of the Indianapolis plan of training boys and girls to 
be intelligent, effective citizens now. Citizenship is theirs al- 
ready; good citizenship must be achieved and made habitual. 

The Eighth Year. — The stated course in civics for the 
eighth year is a rapid survey of the various elements of civic 
welfare, such as the protection of life and property, the safe- 
guarding of health, the affording of means of education, of 
recreation, etc. Rightly, this is ''not primarily an analysis 
of government." It is intended, rather, ''to give the pupil 
an organized conception of what his membership in the com- 
munity means. Government is discussed throughout the 
course as the supreme means by which the entire community 
may co-operate for the common welfare. At the end of the 
course the main features of governmental organization are 
discussed in the light of what has preceded. . . . Co-opera- 
tive activity for the common good is the key-note to the 
entire course." 

Advantages and Disadvantages. — The great element of 
strength in this plan is at the same time its source of possible 
weakness, namely, the perfect co-ordination of all the work 
of all the teachers who must co-operate every day in the 
year to make the plan a success. One can see that, as new 
teachers are constantly coming into the school system, the 
most careful supervision is necessary. In order that the 
plan may succeed there must be unremitting vigilance, to- 
gether with unusual tact and sympathy in the supervisors. 
That Indianapolis beheves it has succeeded with a plan so 
ideal is a great tribute to the organization and personnel of 
its school system. 

And now for a somewhat different method, that has iden- 
tically the same object in view — education for civic efficiency. 



CIVICS 281 



IV. The Philadelphia Plan 

The Philadelphia Plan is based on the idea that the work 
in civics will gain in effectiveness if it is regularly scheduled, 
by name, in every year of the elementary school, for at least 
two periods each week. The civic training thus becomes as 
steady and as cumulative as that in EngHsh or in mathe- 
matics. Moreover, this arrangement enables the distinctively 
civic material that lies scattered throughout the various sub- 
jects of the elementary curriculum, much of which would 
ordinarily be lost, to be gathered up and combined with the 
more strictly governmental concepts that enter into any 
course in civics. For example, "pubHc sanitation" is lifted 
bodily out of the course in physiology and hygiene and set 
down, gently but firmly, in the civics course. This results in 
confining hygiene to its individual appHcation (personal hy- 
giene), while community hygiene is given its appropriate so- 
cial setting and appHcation. 

In classes with the single class-teacher in charge the trans- 
ition from ''individual" to "community" hygiene, for ex- 
ample, is made so easily and naturally, regardless of the 
''label" on each, as to be imperceptible to the pupil. Where 
the departmental system is in vogue this transition is more 
noticeable, but the pupil is not troubled by it, as it blends 
into the general characteristics of the system itself. In 
either case, the pupil runs no risk of having his civic educa- 
tion encroached upon and minimized by other studies in the 
curriculum, or by lack of co-operation among the teachers. 
Experience shows that in the ordinary school the indistinct 
subject gets lost in the school's activities. The civic aim of 
education is too large to be lost because lesser subjects fill 
the program. 

If the following description of the Philadelphia course is 
in more detail than the account already given of the Indian- 
apohs course, this is due solely to the writer's greater famil- 
iarity with the former, since he helped to formulate it. Mr. 



282 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Dunn has given details on the Indianapolis plan in the bul- 
letin mentioned. 

Details of the Plan. — In the earlier grades the attempt is 
made to organize the teaching of the basic civic virtues, such 
as obedience, cleanliness, orderliness, courtesy, helpfulness, 
punctuahty, truthfulness, thoroughness, honesty, and the 
like. Knowledge and ideals of these are inculcated through 
stories, poems, games, and dramatization of the stories told 
by the teacher. Habits are encouraged by helping children 
to act out and to live the ideals. As stated elsewhere by 
the writer, the aim is threefold: "To estabhsh right habits of 
thought and action in the children; to project these habits 
into the home and into their other relationships as well; to 
show the pupils how all community Hfe is based on the em- 
bodiment of these virtues in each member of society." 

Later, the pupils are made acquainted with that all- 
embracing community hfe round about them, wider than the 
home and school, which is constantly ministering to their 
needs and without which they would perish. They come to 
learn of the services rendered them and their families in a 
personal way by the milkman, the baker, the grocer, the 
plumber, the doctor, the dressmaker, and others. And from 
these the transition is easy to those equally personal services 
rendered by the policeman, the fireman, the street-sweeper, 
the ashes and garbage collectors; and then the pupils are 
ready to project their thinking to those who bring water and 
gas and electricity and the telephone into their homes, who 
transport them from one place to another, who make it pos- 
sible for them to communicate with their friends by letter. 

It is beheved that through this process the young citizens 
may come to understand and appreciate what this great out- 
side world is doing for them and what they may do in return. 
What is more, they will discover that those who are doing 
the worth-while work of the world must embody those very 
civic virtues of punctuality, courtesy, thoroughness, and 
honesty that they themselves are being trained to practise. 



CIVICS 283 

The day may not be far distant when all may learn that 
''good civics'' and ''good business" are synonymous terms. 

The Local Occupations. — For purposes more or less local, 
but believed to be of application in or near any industrial 
community, one whole year (the sixth) is devoted to the 
great industries that have made Philadelphia famous, and 
to the varied occupations of the city, many of which are open 
to boys and girls. While serving as a sort of vocational- 
guidance course, both for those who are to leave early and 
for those who are to remain longer, this "industrial-civics" 
year will fail of its purpose if it does not impress the youngster 
with the essential equahty of the workers and the marked 
inferiority of the drones. The "blind-alley" occupations, 
often more attractive at the start than those which lead 
somewhere, are carefully noted, as well as the ethics of get- 
ting and keeping a job. 

The Seventh and Eighth Years. — During the last two 
years the work is based on the idea of discovering how the 
various elements of civic welfare — namely, health, protec- 
tion of life and property, education, recreation, civic beauty, 
communication, transportation, wealth (the making of a liv- 
ing) — are secured to each pupil and his family through com- 
munity action. That is, in return for the specialized service 
rendered the community by the father or mother, the com- 
munity, through the medium of wages or salary, does all 
those things for the family in return. Unfortunately, there 
are some who either cannot or will not secure these elements 
of welfare for themselves except in a way which the com- 
munity regards as anti-social. These naturally become wards 
of the state, and must be aided by the community both for 
its own protection and for the possible reformation of the 
offender. These last are considered under the captions of 
"Charities" and "Correction." 

Then follow two closing sections, entitled, "How our laws 
are made" and "Party government," each of which is self- 
explanatory. It might be well to add, however, that the 



284 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

latter includes a brief discussion of party organization and 
election machinery, so far as either would be of interest and 
value to the class. 

Methods. — Each general topic receives a threefold treat- 
ment: first, the approach, where the topic as a whole is pre- 
sented to the class in some vivid fashion that shall arouse 
the pupils' interest and make them see its importance; sec- 
ond, the agencies, public and private, through which the 
community secures the end it is seeking; and third, the re- 
sponsibility of the young citizens of the class to co-operate 
to the best of their abiHty with the various civic agencies. 

Numerous trips — for example, to the fire-station, to a fil- 
tration plant, to a garbage-disposal plant, and to museums 
— help to make more real to the pupils both the services ren- 
dered and those who render them; and especially when these 
trips are followed by class reports and discussions. 

The progression is usually from city to state to nation, 
not forgetting to emphasize the part played by private or- 
ganizations. The latter is done for two reasons: first, be- 
cause the work of governmental departments, bureaus, etc., 
cannot be understood apart from the help they receive from 
private organizations; and second, because the young people 
must come to appreciate the fact that these voluntary asso- 
ciations are the principal means through which the ordinary 
citizens can unite most effectively for civic endeavor. 

Junior High School Civics. — It is altogether likely that 
should the complete junior high school (grades seven and 
eight and first-year high school) finally arrive, the last of 
these years will find room for at least a term of advanced 
vocational civics. This will continue the vocational infor- 
mation begun in the earher grade, and give the boys and 
girls some notion of the larger industrial or professional op- 
portunities that He ahead for those who go through the senior 
high school. Moreover, they must discover that the high- 
est type of good citizen is the one who "does not allow him- 
self to become so engrossed in the process of making a living 



CIVICS 285 

as to lose sight of those other duties of good citizenship that 
he owes to family and friends, to society generally and, above 
all, to the state." 

Knowing and Doing. — Naturally, as already indicated, the 
new civics includes both a curriculum of studies and a curric- 
ulum of activities. The latter must vary from time to time 
and from place to place, but might include the following 
collective activities: a certain measure of student self-gov- 
ernment; junior civic leagues; organized war on destructive 
insects; co-operation with civic organizations or even with 
governmental agencies for neighborhood improvement. 

Further Suggestions on Method. — While the following 
suggestions on method are based primarily on the Phila- 
delphia course, yet they are believed to be applicable to any 
civics course that is planned on substantially the same lines, 
whether for a large city or a small one. The only variation 
that might occur is in the discussion of industrial or voca- 
tional civics. 

As already stated, the early training in the basic civic 
virtues would be carried on through stories, poems, songs, 
games, and dramatization. These should be based, wherever 
possible, on situations that arise in the schoolroom or on 
the playground. Each of these is helpful in its own way, 
for each one helps to form the habit of right social action. 
No unusual literary or dramatic power is needed by the 
teacher. However, there is one ability that she must ac- 
quire, and that is the art of having a chat about the story 
or poem or whatever it may be, in the course of which, by 
skilful questioning, she gives the little folks themselves the 
chance to point the civic moral. This they will do with enthu- 
siasm and a sincerity that speaks well for the future. 

The Doing Side. — So much for the appreciative side of 
these lessons; now for the doing side; for it must be re- 
membered that the New Civics is both a curriculum of studies 
and a curriculum of activities. A certain fourth grade known 
to the writer has a *' make-over club" which resulted from 



286 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

the study of Thrift. Each member, to get in or to stay in, 
must do some thrifty act which is vouched for to the class. 
Careful cleaning and mending of the clothing so that it will 
last a little longer, saving of waste-paper and proper spend- 
ing of the money received for it, making simple repairs about 
the house — these are only a few of the many reports that 
are made to the class at any civics period when the club is 
holding a business meeting. This is all very real to the chil- 
dren, it is continuous and not spasmodic, and it helps to 
lay a secure foundation of economic independence and civic 
strength. Any one of the virtues will lend itself equally 
well to some form of civic activity. 

In the study of the services rendered each pupil and his 
family by the community round about him, and of how he 
may lend a hand, the progression of thought is: dependence, 
interdependence, service. And until the seventh grade is 
reached, the personal and human side must be kept in the 
foreground, to the practical exclusion of organization or 
legal powers. ''Biographical Civics" might be a good name 
for it. The boys and girls are still in the idealizing, in the 
hero-worshipping stage. They are primarily interested in 
people that are doing things — in Mr. Policeman, Mr. Fire- 
man, Mr. Street-sweeper; and this personifying of com- 
munity activity is worth keeping even for the long-range 
personal services where those who render them are not or- 
dinarily visible to the children. 

No needless worry should be indulged in by the teacher 
that she is lacking in definite information about any one of 
these dignitaries. All the information needed — say about 
Mr. Plumber or Mr. Carpenter or Mr. Policeman — will be 
given with a rush by the class. The teacher's function is 
not to pour in a stream of facts, but to help the children 
organize their own fund of information along civic lines, so 
that they may rightly appreciate the services rendered by 
each of these community servants and at the same time 
store up a fund of civic ideals that shall guide them later 



CIVICS 287 

as adult citizens. It must not be forgotten that throughout 
this course information is only a means to an end — a sort 
of by-product in the training process that is to turn out 
virile citizens. 

Any comprehensive survey of industrial life and of voca- 
tional opportunities, no matter how elementary it may be, 
can hardly be conducted without the use of popular but 
accurate write-ups of the various industries and occupations 
to be studied. The hearty co-operation of private organiza- 
tions — such as the local Chamber of Commerce or Board 
of Trade, the Consumers' League, Women's Clubs, etc. — 
can be enhsted in the preparation of the write-ups. These 
may be planned for use by the teachers or directly by the 
pupils themselves. 

More Mature Study. — Coming now to the more mature 
work of the seventh and eighth grades, based on a study of 
the elements of civic welfare, some of the suggestions already 
made call for further elaboration. 

The approach mentioned above, though it usually need 
take but one or two periods, is of vital importance to the 
success of the work; for it is here that the pupils come to 
see the importance of the topic as a whole both to the com- 
munity generally and to themselves in particular. If the 
topic is the protection of Hfe and property, the class should 
discover in the approach that if it were not for the protect- 
ing arm the community throws around them, they and their 
parents and their neighbors would be in constant peril, from 
one day's end to the other. This end may be reached by 
having the class enumerate the dangers that beset them on 
every hand; or, if preferred, the class may name the various 
safeguards they know of that the community has thrown 
up for their defense. In either case, the Kst would be long 
and impressive. The same sort of treatment would serve 
when discussing the topic of health. Various methods of 
approach to these and other topics will suggest themselves 
to the resourceful teacher. 



288 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

In considering the various civic agencies, public and 
private, a beginning would naturally be made with those 
which touch the pupil or at least come within the range of 
his experience. This means that the order of progression is 
usually from local to state and then to national. Moreover, 
the order of interest is found to be from function to struc- 
ture, from the administrative department which does things 
to the legislative which plans the things to be done, and the 
judicial which interprets and helps to carry out what has 
already been planned — not the reverse. 

The importance of frequent class or other group trips 
to see the agencies under consideration, with the inevitable 
class report and discussion, can hardly be overemphasized. 
A larger part of a civics laboratory Hes outside the school- 
room, and obviously the pupils can use this material only 
where it is to be found. This is better understood in Euro- 
pean than in American schools, and in some instances it 
may be necessary to do a little missionary work with the 
school authorities. 

Programs for junior civic leagues or other school organi- 
zations of a civic nature would be hard to outline in advance, 
as they would depend so entirely on the interests of the pu- 
pils and the needs of the community. Any program lacking 
this prime essential of direct touch with the environment 
would be a waste of precious time and energy, for it would 
neither develop civic initiative nor train the judgment in 
dealing with community problems. Worse still it would 
probably deaden any interest that had already been aroused, 
and tend to put the whole study of civics back into the realm 
of the so-called ^' informational" subjects, from which valley 
of dry bones it seems in a fair way to be rescued. 

V. Test of the New Civics 

Mr. Dunn has probably given us the best formulation of 
the tests we may fairly apply to a civics course. He declares 
that unless the young citizen's interest shall have been aroused 



CIVICS 289 

in community matters, with corresponding motives for par- 
ticipation therein; and unless, in addition, a fair degree of 
civic initiative and civic judgment shall have been cultivated 
in the boy or girl, these years of civic training will have been 
largely wasted. However, it must be remembered that the 
gains from such a course cannot be measured with a yardstick 
or weighed with a pair of scales. They must be evaluated 
gradually, as they shall appear in the civic Hfe of the young 
people who grow up under its influence — as is true with all 
the subtler things in education. Present-day civic problems 
at the school, the home, and in the community and larger 
group are serious enough to-day to warrant the most careful 
study, experimentation, and testing of results. If an objec- 
tive scale for measuring all or a considerable share of the 
product, civic efficiency, can be devised, as is probable, so 
much the better. 

Note. — The Philadelphia course in civics for the elementary schools may- 
be obtained by writing to the Superintendent of Public Schools, Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

SUMMARY 

1. Civic efficiency is one of the great aims of education, and no coun- 

try ever had a greater need for such efficiency as our own de- 
mocracy. 

2. The New Civics has for its twofold object the acquainting of the 

child with his social environment, the community, and the 
fitting of the child for citizenship in that community. 

3. The Indianapolis plan for accomplishing this includes teaching 

civics by means of all the studies of the curriculum, especially 
geography, history, and arithmetic through the earlier grades, 
and then teaching it as a separate subject in the eighth grade, 

4. In the Philadelphia plan, civics is taught as a separate subject for 

at least two periods a week throughout the elementary grades. 

5. The children learn of the civic virtues, of the community round 

about them and how it ministers to their needs, and of the 
wider community of state and nation. 

6. The industrial life and opportunities of Philadelphia are studied, 

its private agencies for social betterment and citizen co-opera- 
tion are considered, and student activities of a civic nature 
are encouraged. 



290 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

7. The young people trained in the New Civics, by whatever method, 
if it has been a success, will grow up with civic initiative and 
judgment backed by an awakened social conscience. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

1. If you have children above the third grade, try putting the opening 

exercises partly into their hands. Have a president, a vice- 
president, a secretary-treasurer elected and have them suggest 
and make up programs at least once a week. Have children 
report on current events at these meetings as well as sing, 
speak, read, discuss community problems, act out little dramas, 
etc. There are many possibilities in such meetings. 

2. What can your school or class do to improve your school building 

and grounds? How can the children get trees planted, waste 
picked up, fences repaired, mud-holes filled, turning poles, see- 
saws, swings, and sand-boxes provided ? Will a parent-teacher 
association help ? Can there be established a school orchestra, 
or a community orchestra, meeting at the school ? What other 
services to the school community can be rendered? 

3. Try to get the people of the community to organize for entertain- 

ment, public discussions of public questions (local, state, na- 
tional, and international), for spelhng bees using words only 
needed in correspondence, for ciphering matches, and for gen- 
eral development of the spirit and habit of community co- 
operation. 

4. What local community problems may be discussed with profit in 

the school and in what grades? Which of these problems may 
be started toward solution by the school children ? What diffi- 
culties will arise ? 

5. Examine the leading text-books on civics and pick out those which 

you consider best. In what ways do they excel ? 

6. How much time should be given to regular teaching of civics in 

class-periods in the first six years? How much time should 
be given in the seventh, eighth, and ninth years? What stands 
in the way of giving such time ? 

7. Do you know of any schools that seem to overlook the civic aim of 

education entirely, and why? Can the effects of such omission 
be noticed in the community life? 

8. If you teach in a rural or village school get a copy of Field and 

Nearing's ''Community Civics," and see what it offers your 
children. 



CIVICS 291 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

A. REFERENCES ON METHOD 

1. Allen, W. H.— "Civic Education Through Public Schools." His- 

tory Teacher's Magazine, March, 191 1. 

2. "Teaching Civics by Giving Pupils Civic Work To Do." 

The American City, February, 1916. 

3. American Political Science Association — "The Teaching of Gov- 

ernment." Report of Committee on Instruction in Govern- 
ment. The Macmillan Co. 

4. Bagley, W. C, and Horn, Ernest — Reports on History in the 191 5 

and 191 7 Year Books of the National Society for the Study of 
Education, Public School PubHshing Co., Bloomington, 111. 

5. Barnard, J. L. — "The Teaching of Civics in Elementary and Sec- 

ondary Schools." Proceedings of the National Education 
Association, 19 13. 

6. "Training in the Schools for Civic Efficiency." Annals 

of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sep- 
tember, 1 9 16. 

7. Beard — "American Citizenship." The Macmillan Co. 

8. Bourne — "The Teaching of History and Civics." The Macmil- 

lan Co. 

9. Cabot, E. L., and others — "A Course in Citizenship." Houghton 

MifHin Co. 

10. Dunn, A. W. — "The Community and the Citizen." (See Intro- 

duction for Teachers.) D. C. Heath & Co. 

11. "The Trend of Civic Education." Annual Report of the 

Commissioner of Education, 1914. 

12. "The Community and the Citizen." D. C. Heath & Co. 

13. Gill, W. L. — "Children's Civic Activities." Annals of the Ameri- 

can Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 1916. 

14. Goodwin, F. P. — "Why Teach Community Civics." Ohio Edu- 

cational Monthly, August, 19 10. 

15. Hill, Mabel — "The Teaching of Civics." Houghton Mifflin Co. 

16. Horton, D. W. — "Standards for Community Civics." History 

Teacher's Magazine, February, 1916. 

17. Johnson, Henry — "The Teaching of History." The Macmillan 

Co., 1916. 

18. Simons, R. S. — "The Juvenile Street Cleaning League of New 

York." American City, October and November, 1910. 

19. Skinner, E. M. — "Civics: The Art of Citizenship." National 

Municipal Review , April, 1916. 



292 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

20. United States Bureau of Education. 

Civic Education Series: 

No. I. "Community Civics — What It Means." 
No. 2. ''What Training for Citizenship Means." 
No. 3. ''Standards for Judging Civic Education." 
Bulletins: 

No. 12, 1 913. "Promotion of Peace." 
No. 23, 1913. ''The Georgia Club." 
No. 47, 1913. "Civics Material in Government Publi- 
cations." 
.No. 17, 1915. "Civics Education in Elementary 

Schools." 
No. 23, 191 5. "The Teaching of Community Civics." 
No. 28, 1916. " Social Studies in Secondary Education." 

21. United States Census Bureau. Special Reports. 

B. GENERAL REFERENCES 

2 2. American Year Book. 

23. Book Review Digest. 

24. Congressional Directory. 

25. Cyclopedia of American Government. 

26. Davidson, Charles — "Active Citizenship: A Study Outline." 

27. Guthrie, A. L. — "Municipal Civics: A Study Outline." 

28. Legislative Handbook. 

29. Munro, W. B. — "Bibliography of Municipal Government." 

30. New International Year Book. 

31. World Almanac. 

32. Government Publications — local, state, and national — may be ob- 

tained at reference libraries or on application to the department 
pubHshing the same. The United States Government issues a 
monthly list of both Federal and state publications, many of 
which are valuable to the teacher of civics and most of which 
may be had free or for a nominal price. 

33. Periodica] Literature — Magazines — are valuable civic material: 

e. g., The Survey, The Outlook, The Independent, The American 
City, The Literary Digest, The Review of Reviews, The Nation, 
The New Republic, Current Opinion, The Searchlight on Con- 
gress, The Information Quarterly. 
Back numbers can easily be referred to through the use of the 
"Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature." 

34. The daily newspapers are a most fruitful source of civic informa- 

tion, to be carefully checked up, however, with the more reliable 
magazines already referred to. 



CHAPTER XIII 
MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 

Preliminary Problems 

1. What advantages were gained when men changed to a carefully- 

standardized yard from the custom of having many different 
standards, and such standards as the distance from the end of 
the Queen's nose to the end of the fingers of her right hand, with 
arms stretched on a piece of cloth? 

2. How do such primitive standards differ from the average examina- 

tion held in school? 

3. If a photographic copy of an elementary pupil's examination paper 

in geography, history, arithmetic, composition, or other subject, 
is sent to five hundred teachers of the same grade as the pupil 
examined, to what extent will they agree in their marks if all 
do their work carefully? (High school teachers vary from forty 
to ninety per cent frequently.) 

4. What is the reliability of the teacher's judgment as to the relative 

difficulty of spelling words? See chapter on spelling, 

5. Of what advantage is it for a boy to have a photographic scale 

of samples of handwriting on the wall in his room with which 
he may compare his own handwriting? 

6. What help can a specialist in educational measurements give 

teachers, principals, and superintendent as a regularly employed 
official of the schools with the rank of assistant superintendent? 
What cities now have such specialists? 

7. How have we determined in the past which method of teaching 

reading or which series of geographies or arithmetics gave the 
best results? 

8. Which of the following types of mental changes to be made in 

pupils can best be measured: (i) knowledge, (2) habits, (3) ideals, 
(4) appreciations (including under this heading attitudes, tastes, 
interests, prejudices, etc.) ? 

9. By what aims of education are we to determine what results of 

education are worth measuring? 

The Aim of the Chapter. — The aim of this chapter is to 
help in the solution of one of the most important problems 

293 



294 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

in teaching, namely, the measuring of results. The title of 
the chapter might well have been Tests Every Teacher Should 
Know. For there are now tests that practically every 
teacher should know and use. These tests are to the teacher 
what the thermometer is to the physician, what the foot is to 
the lumber dealer, what the yard is to the merchant, what 
the pound is to the grocer, what the bushel is to the farmer. 
In short, they furnish the teacher with standard units of 
measurement. 

Every teacher wishes to know whether she is succeeding, 
and to what degree, and most teachers realize how unsatis- 
factory are their present means of securing information on 
this point. Ordinarily, teachers are limited to one or both 
of two sources for knowledge of their success. The two 
sources are examinations and personal judgment, and it is 
now recognized that the unreliability of the one is only 
equalled by the imcertainty of the other. Doctor Kelly 
treats this matter fully and convincingly in his study of 
teachers' marks [i''].^ 

The use of standardized tests enables the teacher to know 
in a scientific way (i) definite grades for her teaching, (2) 
how far her pupils are from the goals, and (3) what progress 
her pupils are making toward the goals. 

Unfortunately, there are as yet comparatively few well- 
developed standardized tests, but marked progress has been 
made within the last few years, and still more marked prog- 
ress is promised for the near future. 

This chapter will deal mainly with such standardized 
tests and measuring-scales as are available for present use 
by teachers of limited training in psychology and statistical 
methods. Those who wish to go into the matter more fully 
will find help in the appended bibhography. The selected 
list at the end contains some of the best help for those who 

1 All citations in this as in former chapters are made by giving the number 
which corresponds to the reference in the bibliography given at the end of the 
chapters; e. g., the citation made above is to Kelly's "Teachers' Marks," given 
in full, No. la. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



295 



are beginning to study this problem. Every teacher should 
study several of the typical references and then be alert to 
progress in this line as it is recorded in the better current 
educational journals and books. 

The Available Means of Measuring Results. — Chief 
among the means of measurement now available are the 
Courtis Tests [2], the Thorndike Handwriting Scale [17, 22], 
the Ayres' Handwriting Scale [20], the Stone Reasoning 
Tests in Arithmetic [33], and the Hillegas Composition Scale 
[38]. All these have been sufficiently used to prove their 
value. Among others are the Thorndike Drawing Scale [54], 
the Buckingham Spelling Tests [44], the Harvard-Newton 
Composition Scale [36], the Courtis's Standard Practice 
Tests [3], the Thorndike Reading Scales and Tests [16], the 
Gray, Kelly [16^, and Fordyce [i6-^] Reading Scales, and the 
Health and Physical Education Scale by Rapeer [54^. De- 
velopment along this line is very rapid, and doubtless before 
this book has appeared others will have been published. 
Contributions have been made in such high school subjects 
as Latin, geometry, algebra, physics, German, French, 
grammar, etc. 

In point of time Doctor Rice is the pioneer in testing. 
The publication of his extended researches in the results of 
teaching was the explosion of a veritable bomb in the edu- 
cational world [15^^]. Mr. Riley, while principal in Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, also gave the cause a noteworthy im- 
petus by publishing the results of the famous Springfield 
tests, which showed that school children to-day could in gen- 
eral do better at tests given in 1845 than the children of that 
time [15^ 15^]. But the chief worker along this line has 
been and is Thorndike. It is to him more than to any other 
man that we owe our present progress toward the possibility 
of adequately measuring and evaluating the results of teach- 
ing. Thorndike is the father of educational measurement. 

What is a Standardized Test? — A standardized test is 
one that has been given to enough representative pupils 



296 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

under controlled conditions to warrant the setting of certain 
achievements as standards which are reasonable of attain- 
ment by similar pupils under similar conditions. For exam- 
ple, the Courtis tests in arithmetic have been given under 
uniform conditions of time allowance, directions, etc., to 
thousands of pupils in representative school systems [25, 27]. 
These school systems include New York City, Boston, De- 
troit, and more than a thousand schools in many states, 
ranging from New Hampshire to Idaho, and Wisconsin to 
Tennessee. Mr. Courtis also gave his tests to adults in 
such representative business establishments as Wanamaker's 
store; and on the basis of the results of these many tests he 
has been able to set certain standards which are reasonable 
and desirable attainments for pupils of the various school 
ages. This may be illustrated by the Courtis Practice Tests 
[3]. In Lesson 9 of the arithmetic tests, for example, ad- 
vanced sixth-grade pupils are expected to learn to do cor- 
rectly forty-six subtraction examples similar to the following, 
in four minutes : 

146 91 109 57 123 

96 44 35 18 60 

Cards are passed to pupils with the examples printed on 
them; all pupils are to begin at exactly the same time and to 
stop at exactly the end of four minutes. By using this test 
a teacher may know the degree to which her teaching has 
been effective in subtraction, and each pupil may know how 
much he ought to improve by practice, as compared with 
other teachers and pupils in many places. These same tests 
are made available for other grades by a graduated time 
allowance. One teacher's experience in using this test is 
shown in Figures XIII and XIV, pages 528 and 529. 

What Is a Measuring-Scale ? — A scale for measuring is a 
list of samples of known quality so arranged that they are 
graduated as to excellence. Such scales are derived by hav- 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 297 

ing a very large number of samples graded by a large num- 
ber of competent judges. In order to secure a perfect scale 
it is essential that the samples include every known degree 
of excellence, varying from zero, or just less than any de- 
gree, to the highest degree of excellence. One of the best 
accounts of the derivation of a scale is found in Thorndike's 
"Measurement of Achievement in Drawing" [54]. As a 
preliminary, Doctor Thorndike selected fifteen drawings of 
varying degrees of excellence and submitted them to compe- 
tent judges consisting of artists, supervisors and teachers of 
art, and students of education and psychology. These judges 
were requested to rate the drawings according to directions 
on the basis of their intrinsic merit as drawings. 

There were sent in 376 ratings of the fifteen drawings in order of 
merit, 60 from artists of sufficient distinction to be listed in "Who's 
Who in America," 80 from supervisors of the teaching of art, and 
236 from students of education and psychology. 

The differences in merit between successive drawings in this graded 
series were defined in each case by the percentages of judges judging 
correctly. For example, 94.85 per cent of the judges rated b as having 
more merit than a, while only 84.5 per cent of them rated c as having 
more merit than b. Hence the b — a difference is evidently greater than 
the c — b difference in the sense of being more often or more easily dis- 
tinguished [54]. 

On the basis of these judgments the scale was constructed. 
It is obvious that this scale is necessarily tentative, but Doc- 
tor Kelly has shown [i] that it is very much better than no 
scale for measuring the results of teaching drawing. 

How to Use Standard Tests. — Care in the use of standard 
tests is an essential factor in securing reliable results. The 
prescribed conditions and directions should be rigidly ad- 
hered to ; otherwise the results cannot be properly interpreted 
by comparing them with the standards. Careful following 
of directions in scoring and tabulating is also important; but, 
unless one has a considerable number of classes to handle, it 
is not advisable to take time to learn the short-cut methods 



298 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

of getting averages, or substituting the median for the aver- 
age, as directed by Courtis. Nor is it ordinarily worth while 
to take time to compute deviations or variability. These lat- 
ter measures are of value mainly to the educational expert 
in dealing with large numbers of classes. What is most in- 
dispensable to the teacher is the status of her class as a class, 
and of her pupils as individuals. 

How to Use Measuring-Scales. — ^Accurate matching of 
the matter to be measured with the various steps of the scale 
is the essential factor in the successful use of a measuring- 
scale. The accuracy of matching will be greatly increased 
by having a number of persons make the comparisons and 
taking the average of their judgments. Another method of 
increasing accuracy is for a single person to repeat his judg- 
ments and then use the average. 

In his monograph on ''Measurement of Achievement in 
Drawing" [54], Doctor Thorndike says on this point: 



In measuring the merit of a single drawing by the scale, the draw- 
ing in question should be examined with the scale in view or well fixed 
in memory and a number assigned to it [3]. The number so assigned 
to a drawing by any single judge is, of course, far from infallible. If 
the same judge should so rate a thousand drawings, and then, putting 
these ratings aside, rate the thousand over again, he would vary, often 
by more than half a ''merit" from his previous judgments. If t©n 
judges should rate a drawing, each without any knowledge of the rat- 
ings assigned by the others, the ten ratings would vary. These facts 
are in no wise an argument against the use of the scale, but simply 
an illustration of the fact that people disagree more in measuring the 
merit of a drawing than they do in measuring the weight of a stone. 
Individuals disagree in all measurements whatsoever. Let a stone 
that weighs exactly 1,000 ounces be weighed independently by ten 
men using the ordinary scale found in a store, and probably no two 
of them will assign the same number of ounces as its measure. If 
they assign its weight as the number of ''16 ounces" — i. e., pounds — 
to which it is nearest, more of them will assign identical numbers — 
62 or 63. Similarly, if ten teachers measure a drawing, say that of 
Fig. 20, to the nearest tenth of a "merit," probably no two of them 
will agree, but if they measure it to the nearest "merit," several of 




MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 299 

them will rate it alike as 2, If they should measure it as o or 2 or 4 
or 6 or 8, etc., probably nine of them would rate it 2. 

The sum and substance of all this is that any fact will be given 
varying measurements if the scale is made fine enough. When a 
teacher compares a boy's stature successively with 61 inches, 62 inches, 
63 inches, and so on, in order to assign the proper number of inches 
for his stature, comparison is easy and fairly exact. Ten teachers so 
measuring the same boy to tenths of an inch gave ratings all between 
60.2 inches and 60.6 inches. The process was simple, and the varia- 
tion of their measurements was only a small frac- 
tion of the difference between the shortest and 
tallest human being in the world. Ten teachers 
measuring the merit of the drawing of Fig. 21 (to 
tenths of a "merit") gave ratings of from 7.8 to 
1 1.8. The process was not so simple; and the 
variation of their measurements was a large frac- 
tion of the difference between the worst and the 
best drawing in the world. But there was no 
fundamental logical difference in the nature or 
value of the two sets of measurements. And 
there would have been far more disagreement Fig. 21. 

had they measured the drawings without the aid 

of our scale. Ten other teachers measuring the merit of this drawing 
without the scale showed a range of from 2 to 17! In general, the 
amount of disagreement is over 50 per cent greater when the scale is 
not used. 

We must expect a wide variation in the ratings assigned to the 
same drawing by this scale. One *' merit" is such a difference in 
merit as twenty-five out of a hundred artists, teachers of art, and 
other competent men judge wrongly. Hence necessarily it must be 
expected that, in comparing a new drawing with the scale so as to 
rate it, "errors" will be frequent and large. 

Just as men of science take the average of ten or twenty indepen- 
dent measurements of the weight of a body, if they desire to get an 
accurate measure of it, so we need ten or twenty independent ratings 
of a drawing to get an accurate measure of it. And since we are 
affected with eccentric notions, prejudices, and exaggerations of special 
details in the case of the merit of a drawing as we are not in the case 
of the length of a wire or the weight of a ball, it is better to have the 
ratings made by ten or twenty different judges, rather than by the 
same judge at different times. But, whether there is one rating or ten, 
one judge or twenty, the result will he more accurate with the scale than 
without it. 



300 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

With What Pupils Should Standardized Tests and Scales 
Be Used? — They should be used with all pupils as soon as the 
appropriate tests or scales are developed. At present httle 
has been done to help measure the results of children's work 
below Grade 3. A noteworthy exception is the work of Miss 
Pepper with kindergarten children [54^]. The Thorndike 
drawing- scale will doubtless prove of value for judging the 
drawings of primary as well as more advanced pupils. 

One of the advantages of the Courtis arithmetic tests is 
that they may properly be used with any number of different 
grades, from the third or fourth up, at the same time. This 
makes them especially adapted to use in one-room country 
schools. 

Measuring Results of Teaching Reading. — Considering 
the degree to which it is fundamental to all other school 
work, it is surprising that so little progress has been made 
in measuring the results of teaching reading. The explana- 
tion of this is found in the complexity of the reading process. 
At least several investigations are now under way, looking 
toward the standardizing and improvement of tests and scales: 
One by Courtis [2, 35], one by Brown [16''], one by Thorn- 
dike [16], one by Judd [16'^], one by Gray [16], one by Kelly, 
as described by Doctor Coffman in an earher chapter, and 
one by Fordyce. 

Courtis's tests are part of his set on EngHsh (Series C), 
and Professor Thorndike 's work in this line is pubhshed in 
the September, 1914, Teachers College Record, and later issues. 
The main contribution of these studies is that they enable 
those who wish to co-operate in their perfection to do so. 
For those who wish to get a true evaluation of reading work, 
these scales and tests, though imperfect as yet, are well worth 
using. Doctor Thorndike opens his study with an analysis 
of the reading situation. He says in part: 

It is obvious that educational science and educational practice 
alike need more objective, more accurate and more convenient mea- 
sures of (i) a pupil's ability to pronounce words and sentences seen; 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 30I 

(2) a pupil's ability to understand the meaning of words and sentences 
seen; (3) a pupil's ability to appreciate and enjoy what we roughly 
call "good literature" and (4) a pupil's ability to read orally, clearly, 
and effectively. 

In this investigation the preliminary scales and tests are 
classified as: 

1. Scale A — for visual vocabulary. 

2. A scale for measuring the understanding of sentences 
and paragraphs. 

3. ScsihAlpha for"measuring the understanding of sentences. 

4. A provisional scale for measuring ability to pronounce 
English sentences — the Gray tentative scale. 

Measuring Results in Writing. — From the beginning of 
the measuring movement the emphasis has been placed on 
determining the progress in the proverbial three R's, and, 
next to arithmetic, writing has received the most attention. 
There are now two scales, each of which is being rather 
widely used, one by Professor Thorndike [17, 22], and one 
by Doctor Ayres [20]. Professor Thorndike's scale is the 
pioneer in this field. The way in which he derived it is 
described in the Teachers College Record, March, 19 10. 
Which of these scales is the better has not yet been deter- 
mined. Mr. Courtis is making a thorough study of the 
question as part of his Series C [2], and he, as well as other 
investigators, is getting these scales standardized as to rapid- 
ity and the degrees of excellence to be expected from the 
respective grades of pupils. Professor Freeman has con- 
structed a scale by which to diagnose errors in handwriting. 
Professor Starch has devised a slide-rule arrangement for 
converting speed-marks into quality marks, and vice versa. 
Professor Gray of the University of Texas has devised a chart 
on which to record the many points of handwriting, and 
Doctor Ayres has worked out an adult scale, and has ere 
this, no doubt, a new children's handwriting-scale. In their 
present form the scales are very valuable. Some of their 
uses are illustrated below. 



302 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Illustrations of the Uses of Scales. — (a) In the Grades. — 
In all grades above the second a copy of the scale is kept 
posted in the schoolroom, and the children taught to read it 
as a means of determining the quahty of their own hand- 
writing. Teachers frequently send children to the scale in- 
stead of pronouncing judgment themselves. This is evidently 
one of the great values of the scale in that the teacher is 
relieved of the responsibility of personally pronouncing judg- 
ment and the danger of any personal feeling on the part of 
the child is removed to a large degree. Teacher and pupil 
work together in using an established objective standard. 
Thus the scale makes it possible to measure excellence of 
handwriting very much as the units of linear measure make 
it possible to measure distance. 

In the sixth grade of the Training School at Farmville, 
Virginia, the scale was applied to an entire set of dictation- 
papers during the last of September and to another set the 
last of October. In terms of the writing-scale, the gain was 
as follows: For H. H., 55 in September, 60 in October; for 
H. R., 50 in September, 70 in October; for J. F., 70 in Sep- 
tember, 75 in October; for L. W., 80 in September, 85 in 
October. Only two of the papers showed no gain, and these 
stood at 80 and 75 in September, which will be seen bv the 
scale to be sufficiently good not to require gain. 

{h) Use of the Scale in a Normal School. — The use that is 
made of the Ayres' scale in the Farmville, Virginia, Normal 
School illustrates the use of handwriting-scales in Normal 
schools, high schools, or any other school in which there is 
departmental teaching. A complete copy of the faculty 
agreement for getting and maintaining good handwriting 
may be secured by applying to the writer. In brief, the 
plan provides that each member of the faculty have a copy 
of the Ayres' Scale for Measuring Hand Writing; that there 
be a special writing class; that on being informed by as many 
as two teachers that a student is below standard, the teacher 
in charge shall call him or her to the special writing class; 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



303 



that the minimum standards shall be 60 for test papers, and 
70 for work done out of class; that after being sent to the 
writing class the student can only be released by so raising and 
maintaining his or her standard that the teachers of his or 
her respective subjects recommend it. 

(c) Use of the Scale in School Surveys. — ^Another of the 
noteworthy uses of these scales is found in the better school 
surveys. Figure I shows a graphic summary of such use in 
the Ohio State Survey [56]. 

COMPARISON OF HANDWRITING OF FOUR EIGHTH GRADES 

DISTRIBUTION ON AYRES SCALE 




20 



30 



40 



.^^^ Ohio Rural 
.-.— Iowa Small City 



50 



Ayres Scale 



70 



80 90 



..^ Delaware City, Ohjo 
._ Delaware County, Ohio 



Fig. I 

Like all other graphic representations, this figure is of value because of the 
large number of facts that it brings into view. Those who are not accustomed 
to reading graphs may find some difficulty with this one at first; but a very 
little time and effort will yield greatly increased ability, and the facility with 



304 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

which comparisons of records can be shown makes graphs a common method 
of portrayal. 

After a little practice it will be seen at a glance that the Ohio rural-school 
pupils varied much more widely in their ability to write than did the pupils 
in the Iowa small city, i. e., the heavy black line shows that about 2 per cent 
of Ohio rural pupils stood only 20 in writing, 3 per cent of them stood 30, 18 
per cent of them 40, etc., and i per cent of them stood 90; but in contrast to 
this wide variation from 20 to 90, the Iowa small-city pupils, as represented 
by the broken line, varied only from 40 to 80, with very few at 40 and very few 
at 80. It is also seen that the Delaware City pupils varied only from 40 to 
90, with few at 40 and less at 90, and that the Delaware County varied almost 
as much as the Ohio rural as a whole. By using this graph the teachers and 
supervisors of Delaware County can compare the work of their schools in 
writing with (i) the work of Ohio rural schools as a whole, (2) the work of 
the schools of Delaware City, (3) that of the Iowa small city; e. g., the heavy 
black line shows that about 18 per cent of the Delaware County pupils stood 
only 40 or less, while only about 2 per cent of the Iowa small-city pupils stood 
as low as 40. 

The survey investigators draw the following conclusion from the results of 
these measurements: 

" Some pupils in unsupervised rural districts did as well as any students in 
the supervised city system. There is no reason why, with supervision, all 
rural districts should not obtain as good results as any city districts." 

Measuring Results of Teaching Arithmetic. — The stand- 
ardized means of measuring results of teaching arithmetic 
are the tests of Stone [33], Courtis [2, 25, 27], Studebaker 
[33^, and Thompson [9'']. The Courtis tests in fundamental 
operations have been most widely used and are most thor- 
oughly standardized. Their availabihty and the lucid direc- 
tions which accompany them are also qualities which are 
attracting teachers to their use. Series A and B are designed 
mainly for measuring a given status and are known as re- 
search tests. They may be had from Mr. Courtis.^ As is 
indicated in the name, the Courtis Practice Tests [3] are de- 
signed mainly for securing progress and are known as prac- 
tice tests. They are published by the World Book Com- 
pany [3]. Both Series A and B are printed in different forms, 
so that measurements can be repeated without the danger 
of the tests having been memorized. 

Series A has been largely discarded in favor of Series B. 

^ Public Schools, Detroit, Michigan. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



305 



There is no doubt but that Series B is superior for most pur- 
poses in that it is more in accord with Hfe demands. But as 
long as courses of study require teachers to use a large part 
of the arithmetic time during two or more primary grades on 
the isolated combinations, tests I to V, of Series A, ought 
to be used to measure progress in that work. 

The Thompson tests deal too exclusively with isolated 
combinations, and they do not appear to have been very 
widely standardized. 

The development of standardized tests in reasoning has 
been less rapid than in the fundamental processes. This is 
because of the greater complexity of the reasoning processes 
and the lack of accurate knowledge regarding reading ability. 
Of those available the Stone tests [33] in reasoning are re- 
garded as the most satisfactory. 

A recent book for elementary teachers by Chapman and 
Rush, entitled " The Scientific Measurement of Classroom 
Products," and pubUshed by Silver, Burdett & Co., gives the 
principal scales up to 191 7 for measuring arithmetic, hand- 
writing, reading, spelling, composition, and drawing, and 
shows how to use them. Its simplicity is commendable. 

The following graphs will illustrate some of the values of 
using tests. All but the last one are based on results of 
measuring with the Courtis tests. Figures II to X are from 
Series A; Figures XI and XII from Series B; Figures XIII 
and XIV from "Standardized Practice Tests," and Figure XV 
from the Stone Reasoning Tests. 



3o6 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



PROGRESS IN ARITHMETIC. GRADE FV 
FARMYILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN DIVISION 
Feb. 1 Mar. 1 













































Standard 






























































































































































' 








































1 1 




































; ! ! 


































, 1 1 1 1 




































1 1 


1 




























; 








1 




















1 1 




! 1 1 




















i 










1 1 




1 1 
1 1 






























1 








1 1 












1 


























1 
1 
























1 
















L 


j 












1 
















Fig. II 

This is one of the simplest forms of graphical representation. As is readily 
seen, it represents the respective standings of twenty fourth-grade pupils at 
mid-year and again a month later. The heavy black lines represent the prog- 
ress that had been made in division by the end of the first semester. The 
dotted lines show the progress that had been made a month later. During 
that month approximately ten minutes were given to weaknesses as found 
among all the various fundamental operations. Like gains were made in the 
other tables. Probably the most striking fact shown by this graph is that of 
individual differences. These children were carefully graded as they were 
promoted from Grade 3, but at the end of a half-year they differed in division 
to the extent of one pupil being able to do only two combinations, while an- 
other was able to do 28, and the gains during the months of special treatment 
are even more striking in their differences. Even though the seven lowest 
pupils were in a group by themselves and given special attention, two of them 
made absolutely no gain, while several others, with much less attention, made 
gains of six points. As the graph shows, three pupils made losses in the month. 
For the one that was above standard on February i, the explanation is that 
he gave his time and energy entirely to something else. The others suffered 
from physical disability during the month. 

By having this graph before them, pupils and teacher were able to see just 
where they stood, first, with reference to each other, and, second, with reference 
to the standard to be attained by the end of the year, and they were also en- 
abled to see just what progress they were making. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



307 



PROGRESS TN ARITHMETIC 
FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

3 Year -^-.4 Year — — *5 Year 



Grades 
Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. Multiplication 

4. Division 

5. Copying Figures 

6. Speed Reasoning 

Attempts 
Rights 

7. Fundamentals 

Attempts 
Rights 



Fig. Ill 

This graph shows the progress from grade to grade. When these children 
left the third grade their ability in arithmetic was represented by the solid black 
line. As will be noted, the degree in which they as a class were at standard 
is indicated by the degree to which the line is perpendicular. If this graph 
had been before the teacher and supervisor of these children, it is doubtful if 
the record would have been as is shown above. The records were carefully 
kept, but in tabular rather than graphical form, with the result that the weak- 
nesses were not fully realized. For example, the graph shows emphatically 
that these children were very low in division when they left the fourth grade. 
This placed an undue load on the fifth-grade work, with the result that sub- 
traction was slighted and the children did not make standard progress in it; 
it also shows that the children were stronger in knowing how to add, subtract, 
etc., than in knowing when to perform these operations. (However, Mr. 
Courtis has since somewhat modified his standards in reasoning.) 




3o8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



Grades 
Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. Multiplication 
■4. Division 



6. Speed Reasoning 

Attempts 



Rights 

7. Fundamentals 

Attempts 



Rights 



PROGRESS IN ARITHMETIC, GRADE Y 
FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

"r°"'"q i_...Mid-year ••••Closing 




Fig. IV 



This figure represents progress in arithmetic while the class was in the 
fifth grade. At the opening of the year they had only that ability which is 
shown by the solid black line. As is illustrated in Fig. V, however, this does 
not mean that they were as deficient as this when promoted into the fifth 
grade. By mid-year they had made the gains indicated by the dash line, and 
at the close of the year they were well up in everything, with the possible 
exception of speed reasoning. By having this record the teacher was helped 
to know where to stress the work; for example, more time and energy was 
needed on addition and subtraction than multiplication, and division was 
weakest of all. They also showed weakness in the copying of figures, which 
indicated lack of muscular control. 



MEASURING RESULTS OE TEACHING 



309 



PROGRESS IN ARITHMETIC, VACATION LOSSES 
FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

Fnrf of Grade III _— —Beoinnino of Grade IV 




Grades 

Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. Multiplication 

4. Division 

5. Copying Figures 

6. Speed Reasoning 

Attempts 
Rights 

7. Fundamentals 

Attempts 

Rights 



Fig. V 
The above graph is a clear representation of what has frequently been felt, 
but rarely known with certainty, namely, that vacations are times of marked 
loss. Many measurements in different schools agree with this one. Whatever 
may be said in favor of vacations, they are hard on what the children go to 
school for. Such records as the above are of great value in that they show 
the teacher receiving the class two sets of facts: first, where the children stood 
when promoted to her; second, where they stand when she is to begin work 
with them. These facts make it entirely unnecessary for any one concerned 
to wonder how well these children were taught durmg the year preceding their 
promotion. They also show just where the preceding year's work needs re- 
viewing. 



3IO TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



Grades 

Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. Multiplication 

4. Division 

5. Copying Figures 

6. Speed Reasoning 

Attempts 



Rights 

7. Fundamentals 

Attempts 



Rights 



PROGRESS IN ARITHMETIC, GRADE IV 
IN A VIRGINIA SCHOOL 



Jan. 22. 1914 



^«.Mar. 3. 1914 




Fig. VI 



This graph is a clear indication that gains in the fundamentals do not nec- 
essarily mean corresponding gains in reasoning. By having such a graph this 
teacher could see clearly that she had enabled her children to make good prog- 
ress in everything except reasoning. For the time consumed these children 
had learned well how to add, subtract, etc.; the next thing was to learn when. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



311 



PROGRESS IN TABLES, GRADE V 

LOSS IN EXAMPLES. BOYDTON SCHOOL. YA. 

Jan. 22. 1914 Mar. 3. 1914 




Grades 

Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. l\Aultiplication 

4. Division 

5. Copying Figures 

6. Speed Reasoning 

Attempts 
Rights 

7. Fundamentals 

Attempts 
Rights 



Fig. VII 

The above record helped the teacher in that it showed clearly relative 
strengths and weaknesses. This class was found on January 22 to be well up 
in rights of both fundamentals and speed reasoning, but below standard in 
the combinations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and 
very low in copying figures. The natural conclusion of the teacher was that 
her pupils needed to improve in the combinations and she went to work with 
them on those lines. After five weeks the pupils had the ability represented 
by the broken line. This shows the surprising state of having gained in the 
combinations but lost in reasoning and the examples in fundamental opera- 
tions. That is, learning to add, multiply, etc., in isolated combinations, not 
only does not necessarily mean a corresponding gain in ability to work exam- 
ples in fundamental operations, but in this case it meant a very appreciable 
loss. This is only one of many similar cases that have developed from using 
Series A. As a result, Mr. Courtis is recommending that Series B, which con- 
tains no isolated combinations, be substituted for Series A. This point is fur- 
ther discussed later on. The question of how much time pupils should spend 
on the tables is still an open one; but the results of many measurements, similar 
to the above, make it certain that before teachers can be sure that their pupils 
know how to apply the tables, even in abstract examples, they must teach 
them and drill them in such examples. Though they are still comparatively 
untried, it seems clear that for grades above the fourth (and perhaps for all) 
the Courtis Standard Practice Tests meet this need the best of anything we 
now have. 

The error of the teacher whose work is represented in the above graph is 
that she did not recognize that her pupils were mainly deficient in speed. 



312 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

PROGRESS IN ARITHMETIC, RETARDED PUPIL 
FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

Definite daily attention to weaknesses. 

Prooress found to be hindered by eye trouble 

.i^_Oct. 1 ^.Feb. 1 ....Mar. 1 



Grades 

Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. Multiplication 

4. Division 

5. Copying Figures 




60 I 



90 i 



Fig. VIII 

This figure illustrates the help that measuring results is in locating a retarded 
pupil. In all his oral work and by all the usual tests of school and life, this 
boy was unusually bright; yet at the end of a half-year in Grade 3 he was 
hardly able to do second-grade work in writing these simple combination tests. 
Some suspicion of eye-trouble had been aroused by his behavior in reading, 
but not until the above representation of his lack of progress did his teacher 
and parent take the matter up and have his eyes treated by a specialist. 



PROGRESS IN ARITHMETIC, EVENING UP A PUPIL 

FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL. GRADE III 

10 MINUTES DAILY FEB. 13 TO FEB. 27 

MAINLY ON MULTIPLICATION. SOME ON ADDITION 

Oet. 1 Feb. 1 Feb. 27 

Grades 

Tests 

1. Addition 

2. Subtraction 

3. Multiplication 

4. Division 

5. Copying Figures 

Fig. IX 

Every teacher would like to help every pupil do what is shown in Figure IX, 
viz.: make rapid and all-around progress. From being able to do only low 
second grade in most operations and working none at all in multiplication and 
division, this girl became even more irregular by the middle of the year, as is 
shown by the dash line, but with a very low time cost she became markedly 
regular in two weeks' time. 




MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



313 



ABILITY fN FUNDAMENTALS -PROSPECTIVE PRIMARy TEACHERS 

FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

CLASS AVERAGE 



GRADE 8 


1 390 CUSSE 


s 


Attempts 








,-^^- - 




IT 








f 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 


Ti 1 1 1 


' 8 ' 9 ' 10 11 ' 12V 13 


|14 15 ' J6 1 


7 18 • . 


Rights ^ ^ 












S 








~r 


i 1 




n 1 — r 


i 1 


-| n n 


'5*6 7 8 


9 " 10 11 ' 12 


' 13 ' 14 • 



Fig. X 

This graph is constructed on the basis of the results obtained from measur- 
ing 390 eighth-grade classes, and, as filled out, it shows that as a class a group 
of twenty-five prospective primary teachers ranked well above the eighth- 
grade average in attempts and exactly at the average in rights. By adding 
their individual records to this graph each of these young women was able to 
realize where she stood in the fundamental operations, (i) as compared with 
eighth-grade pupils, and (2) as compared with her classmates. 



314 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



RECORDS OF PROGRESS IN SERIES B 
GRADE YI. FARMVILLE TRAINING SCHOOL 

_ . — . • Average of Boston 







»•> ^ a« 


k! Foster! April 21 








ADDITION 


SUBTRACTION 


MULTIPLICATION 


DIVISION 




Attempts Rights 


Attempts 


Rights 


Attempts 


Rights 


Attempts 


Bights 


20 20 


20 


20 


20 


20 


20 


20 


19 19 


19 


19 


19 


19 


19 


19 


18 18 


18 


18 


18 


18 


18 


18 


17 17 


17 


17 


17 


17 


17 


17 


16 16 


16 


16 


16 


16 


16 


16 


15 15 


15 


15 


15 


15 


15 


15 


14 14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 


13 13 


13 


13 


13 


13 


13 


13 


12 12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


11 11 


11 


11 


11 


11 


11 


11 


10 10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


^9* 9 


>9^*. 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


V^N 8 


y,^< 


'C^. « 


8 


8 


8 


8 


7.^^s 1 


x'/ 7 


^C*7- 


.7^^ 


7 


--7^ 


7 


5 ^5^ 


^ 6 


. 5 


6 '"*-*• 

5 


rj-6-*,p<.'' 6 ^%^ 6 


4 4 
3 3 


4 
3 


^^*^^^A 




4 

3 


. 


^4* 


3 


^X 


y^^ — ^ 


3 


2 2 


2 


2 


2 ^ 


S.2> 


,r 2 


^. 


1 1 


1 


1 


1 


>-^ 


1 


1 
























Fig. XI 
This graph is for Series B. It represents class growth. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



315 



ILLUSTRATION OF THE USE OF TENTATIVE STANDARDS 
FOR GRADE IV 

__^_ Average of Grade VI, in Boston, Midyear 

-. -. . Average of Grade VI, Training School, March 19 

...... Average of Grade VI, Training School, April 21 



ADDITION 
Attempts Rights 



SUBTRACTION 
Attempts Rights 



MULTIPLICATION 
Attempts Rights 



DIVISION 

Attempts Rights 



20 


20 


20 


20 


20 20 


20 


20 


19 


19 


19 


19 


19 19 


19 


19 


18 


18 


18 


18 


18 18 


18 


18 


17 


17 


17 


17 


17 17 


17 


17 


16 


16 


16 


16 


16 16 


16 


16 


15 


15 


15 


15 


W 15 


15 


15 


14 


14 


14 


14 


14 14 


14 


14 


13 


13 


13 


13 


13 13 


13 


13 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 12 


12 


12 


11 


11 


11 


11 


11 11 


11 


11 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 10 


10 


10 


^V 


9 


9 


9 


9 9 


9 


9 


eN 


. 8 


^B""*,^ 


8 


8 8 


8 


8 


75V 


>^ 7 ^ 


<^l^ 






7 


7 


6N 


>J^6^0^ 


^^6 


-6,/*'^.^ 6 ^^ 


**^*6V. 


R 


5 
4 


^^t-' 


5 N 
4 




'''""r^lC^r 




3 


3 


3 


V 


3 ^.3^-' 


3 


-.^-3 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 2 


2 


"■-2 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 1 


1 


1 
























Fig. XII 

This illustrates the use of the graph to record the progress of individual 
pupils. Pupils can be readily taught to make their own graphs and such 
records make a strong appeal to the pupils for work and self-drill on revealed 
weaknesses. 



3i6 



TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



PROGRESS IN LESSONS OF COURTIS PRACTICE TESTS 
6 A, IOWA STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE TRAINING SCHOOL 
10 MIN. FOR 21 DAYS 
Vertical lines represent the number worked correctly 



16 



14 



10 



8 8 



P.P. E.O. W.P. M.B. E.H. E.O. R.G. V.B. V.P. J.H. B.W. H.C. G.R. G.Mck.N.N. 



Fig. XIII 

This figure shows one of the noteworthy values of the Courtis Practice 
Tests, viz., that they enable every pupil to work up to the full limit of his 
capacity and still remain a member of the class. All pupils work at the same 
time, but each on the particular piece of work for which he is ready. In the 
twenty-one days during which the above record was made the pupil completed 
the lessons as represented by the vertical Hnes, i. e., while two pupils, P. P. 
and E. O., were conquering three lessons each, pupil G. McK. conquered four- 
teen lessons and pupil N. N. conquered sixteen, while the other pupils varied 
between these extremes. And all these pupils did all their class work on these 
lessons in the same ten minutes. Here is evidently a noteworthy means of 
economizing time. For a skilful teacher can handle a roomful of children at 
one time and have each pupil working at his maximum. Then as soon as the 
quicker ones have attained to the grade standard they can be promptly excused 
to use their time to better advantage along some other line. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 317 



PROGRESS IN COURTIS PRACTICE TESTS 

Illustrated by Typical Pupils, Grade 6 in 

Iowa State Teachers College Training School 

Lesson No. 7 Addition (17 Examples) 







Pupil. 


-R.6. 






Pupil.- 


-G.McK. 






Pupil 


-E.O. 






17 
16 

'A 


17 
16 
15 


17 

16 
15 


17 

16 
15 


17 
16 
15^ 


i 


17 17 

le'^e 

15 15 


17 17 
16. 16 
15\l5y 


/l5^ 


17 


17 

16 
'»15 


17 
16 
15 


'\\ 


14 


14 


14 


/ 


H 


14 


14 


14 


\4^ 


",•3^ 


14 


14 


14 


13A 
12 
11 \ 


13 


v\ 


13 


Az 


13 


13 


13 


13- 


-13^' 


13 


13 


13 


112 


/2\ 


\^^J 


"\2 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


12 


\l1 


/'. 


>/ 


11 


11 


11 


11 


11 


li 


11 


11 


11 


11 


10 


\\y 


/ 9 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


9 


*8^ 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


9 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


8 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


7 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


6 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


5 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


4 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 













































Fig. XIV 

The varying progress of three types of pupils in conquering Lesson Seven — 
17 addition examples — is here portrayed. R. G. was able to get all 17 exam- 
ples correct in six days, G. McK. in two days, and E. O. has worked five days 
and has not yet made a perfect score. R. G. located his difficulty — excess of 
rapidity — the first day, settled down, and made definite gains, which carried 
him steadily to success; G. McK. had no trouble with this lesson, and E. O. 
has worked five days apparently without locating her difficulty. This shows 
hers to be a case for careful study by the teacher. 

Fig. XV, Page 530 

This graph is reproduced here by permission of the school authorities of 
Butte, Montana. It is based on the results of using the Stone Reasoning 
Tests, and represents "the percentage of children making the given scores in 
reasoning problems. For example, 19 per cent of the fifth-grade children 
made a score of o; 19 per cent made a score of i; etc. The lines representing 
the median scores for each grade tell about how many in each grade surpass 
the median scores for the grades above, and how many fall below the median 
scores for the grades below." 

The dotted line was added by the writer. It indicates the median score 
(5.5) made by 152 advanced sixth-grade classes in twenty-six different rep- 
resentative school systems [33J. The addition of this line makes it possible 
to compare the reasoning abilities of Butte pupils with those of other represen- 
tative school systems. 



3l8 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



o 



RESULTS OF ARITHMETIC TESTS 

PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS ATTAINING GIVEN SCORES 

PROBLEMS INVOLVING REASONING 



Median Scores 
5th 6th 7th 8th 

2.2 3.9 5.5 5.8 7.7 



Butte, Montana 




Scores 12 3 4 5 6 7 



11 12 13 14 15 



Fig. XV 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 319 

Summary of Benefits of Measuring as Shown in Figures 

II-XV. 

1. Pupils and teachers are enabled to see how far each 
pupil has progressed, and where he is with regard to the grade 
standard. Figures II, VII, VIII, XII. 

2. Teachers and supervisors are enabled to see progress 
and status of classes. Figures III, IV, XL 

3. Superintendents, school boards, and teachers are en- 
abled to see how their school system compares with other 
representative systems. Figure XV. 

4. The facts of vacation losses are established. Fig- 
ure V. 

5. Individual differences are strikingly portrayed. Fig- 
ures II, XIII, XIV. 

6. The particular weaknesses and strengths of individual 
pupils are indicated. Figures VIII, IX, XII. 

7. Prospective teachers are enabled to compare their abil- 
ities with the standards for respective grades. Figure X. 

8. The futility of expecting transfer of ability in isolated 
combinations to examples and problems is illustrated. Figure 
VII. 

9. Means of economizing time are shown. Figures II, 
XIII, XIV. 

Measuring Results in Spelling. — At first thought, measur- 
ing results in spelling seems a simple, straightforward task, 
but Doctor Buckingham [44] has shown that there are words 
and words — even simple words and simple words — to spell. 
And instead of its being the apparently easy task to get 
accurate measures of spelling abihty, it is really a very com- 
plex problem. For example, how much credit ought to be 



320 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

given for spelling such words as only and chicken as compared 
with such words as quarrel and guess ? Ordinarily, there is 
no recognition of difference in difficulty in grading spelling- 
tests and the same credit is given each word of the test. 
Doctor Buckingham shows that this practice is grossly in- 
accurate because of the wide differences in the difficulty of 
words, e. g., the four words quarrel, circus, carriage, and guess 
are approximately three times as hard as the four words 
only, even, smoke, and chicken, and ought therefore to be so 
weighted in scoring a test. 

The first extended measurements were made by Doctor 
Rice, and his article, ''The FutiHty of the Spelling Grind" 
[15'*, 53], caused much improvement in the teaching of the 
subject. Cornman [52] and Pearson [47, 50] have also done 
measuring which has helped the teaching of the subject. 
Courtis includes spelling in his Series C [2]. Ayres [43] has 
measured spelling by the demands of adult life, and Jones 
[45] by the demands of school life. 

For purposes of measuring progress from term to term, 
from year to year, etc., Doctor Buckingham's scales [44] will 
doubtless be the best help for some time to come. Through 
a large amount of scientific experimentation and a tremen- 
dous amount of labor, Doctor Buckingham has determined 
the respective difficulty of some 550 words. Fifty of these 
words are embodied in the book ''Spelling AbiHty" [44], and 
it is much to be desired that Doctor Buckingham put the 
other 500 in available form for the use of teachers and super- 
visors, with definite directions for their use. 

The words that are weighted by Doctor Buckingham in 
his book have been used under the direction of Miss Tall in 
the schools of Baltimore County, Maryland, and by Mr. 
Franklin in the Sul Ross School of Waco, Texas. The fol- 
lowing graph portrays the results of one plan of using these 
tests: 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 

SPELLING ABILITIES. SUL ROSS SCHOOL, WACO, TEXAS, 

AS MEASURED BY TWENTY-FIVE OF BUCKINGHAM'S 

WORDS IN SENTENCE TEST 



321 





•• 


— 


- 


Hbnity of Classes, Oct. 


"1 


B. 




• Ability of Classes, Jan 


. 


15. 




Sp 


iJ. 


:o 


n ■■ 












































98 
96 
94 
82 
90 
88 
86 
84 
82 
.80 
78 
76 
74 
72 
70 
68 
66 
64 
62 
60 
58 
56 
54 
52 
50 
48 
46 
44 
42 
40 
38 
36 








uy 


















































































































































































































































































































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s. 


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/ 








































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/ 




















































J 


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/ 










, 


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Fig. XVI 

The writer is indebted to Mr. A. W. Franklin for permission to use the 
above graph. Of the conditions under which he secured the data he says: 
"These tests were given in October, 1914, and in January, 1915. 

"After the October tests the sentences and words were not referred to 
any more by any teacher, they not knowing or expecting the test to ever come 
up again. Of course, all the classes were being taught in their regular spelling, 
reading, writing, etc., during the three months between the first and second 
tests." 

A better means of testing pupils would be to select from the words taught 
between the times of testing a set of words equivalent in difficulty to those of 
the first set. Equivalence in difficulty can be secured by using Doctor Buck- 
ingham's method of weighting, and while this is difficult and laborious, it is 
the only way to get accurate measurements of improvement. 

But even the reuse of the same words under the conditions stated by 



322 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

Principal Franklin is much better than the ordinary use of lists of indiscrimi- 
nately selected words, and the preceding graph, Figure XVI, will help Mr. Frank- 
lin's teachers in their spelling work incomparably more than the ordinary day- 
to-day hope-for-the-best teaching of spelling. 

Measuring Results in Language. — In spite of the com- 
plexity of the subject, considerable progress is being made 
in developing means of measuring results in teaching lan- 
guage. The chief contributions are those of Hillegas [38], 
Courtis [2, 35], Jenkins [34], Thompson [9*"], BHss [40], and 
Ballou [36]. And though as yet there is no scale that is fully 
standardized as to the work that may reasonably be expected 
of the respective grades, the results of any one of these in- 
vestigators is markedly better than the unaided personal 
judgment of teachers or supervisors. 

The graph on page 537 summarizes the use of the 
Hillegas scale in the survey of the schools of Butte, Mon- 
tana. 

The attitude of teachers whose work in language has been 
measured is indicative of the value of the use of such tests. 
After considerable experimentation in the use of tests, Miss 
Jenkins [34] (then of Decatur, Illinois) secured expressions 
from her teachers as to their value. The following extracts 
are typical expressions: 

From the teacher's point of view I feel as if the tests are very 
beneficial. . . . 

These tests also enable the teacher to see in what ways the class 
needs help, or in what ways they are especially strong. In the last 
test given in my room, the majority of the class failed to have correct 
sentences because the comma, used in a series of words or phrases, 
was omitted, or because they misspelled "camel." They had never 
studied this use of the comma, so I inferred at once that some lessons 
in the proper use of it were necessary, and I planned my English les- 
sons with this need in view. Some drill work in spelling the word 
"camel" was needed, so we added this word to our list of words for 
drill work. On the other hand, almost every one used the quotation- 
marks, the apostrophes, interrogation-marks, etc., with a certain 
degree of proficiency, and the teacher had the satisfaction of knowing 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 323 

that her class had accomplished some things, and that her efforts had 
not been in vain. 

The results obtained from these tests are well worth the energy 
spent in correcting the papers. They are beneficial not only to the 
teacher, but to the pupil as well. For he, too, compares his result 
with that of his classmates, and tries to correct his mistakes so as to 
improve when the next test is given. 



Measuring Results in Drawing. — The one scale in this 
subject, that of Thorndike [54], has not been available long 
enough to get into extended use, but Kelly [i] found that the 
variability in judging drawings was much reduced by using 
the scale. This means that teachers will grade the work of 
pupils much better by using this scale than by depending en- 
tirely on their own judgment; and an added value of using the 
scale is that of being better able to detect and record progress. 
All art teachers recognize the need of this. It is compara- 
tively easy, and ordinarily comparatively ineffective, to say 
to a pupil, "That is good," or "That is poor," or "You are 
not doing well to-day." It will be just as easy and much 
more effective to say to a pupil: "How does that compare 
with the standard you reached yesterday? or last week? or 
last year?" Then, too, with the perfection of this and simi- 
lar scales there will come marked advance in the knowledge 
as to what are reasonable art attainments for typical pupils 
of the respective age groups. 

Doctor Thorndike's discussion of how to use his scale is 
quoted at length, pages 510-11. 

Measuring the More Subtle Results of Character Devel- 
opment. — Objection is sometimes made to measuring results 
by the use of standardized tests and scales on the ground 
that the use of such tests and scales does not and cannot 
measure the most important of all results, viz.: the results 
of character development. It is true that at present there 
are no standardized tests or scales for measuring change in 
character; whether there can be such means of measurement 
is a question for the future to determine. Let it be granted 



324 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 



Fig. XVII 

Permission was kindly granted by the school authorities of Butte, Montana, 
for the reproduction of this graph. It represents "the percentage of children 
in the several grades who make the given scores in composition. For example, 
1.7 per cent of the fourth-grade children wrote compositions scored at o; 43.8 
per cent of the fourth-grade children were scored at i ; etc. By following the 
median lines the overlapping of ability from grade to grade is disclosed." 

On the basis of the measurement as portrayed in this graph the survey 
commission made the following observations: 

" A study of the table giving the ratings upon compositions written by the 
children of Butte, along with an examination of the sample compositions repro- 
duced to illustrate the merit of each position on the scale, reveals four facts 
which are worthy of note: 

" First, the composition work is formal rather than free and imaginative. 

"Second, the marks fall low on the scale throughout the grades. While 
no standard of achievement has yet been established with which to compare 
the ratings of the several grades in Butte, certain fifth-grade classes in Mary- 
land have been found to average 5.15 as compared with 2.87 for the fifth grades 
in Butte. Also, certain seventh-grade classes in Maryland and New York City 
have been found to average 5.75 to more than 7.0 as compared with 3.75 for 
the seventh grade in Butte [i'^]. 

"Third, there is relatively little growth from one grade to the next, the 
median score being raised less than two points, from fourth to eighth grade. 

"Fourth, the wide variation in ability among the children in any one grade 
raises the question here which was suggested in connection with spelling, 
whether due attention is being given to the individual needs of the children, 
or whether the instruction is not being given to all members of the class ahke, 
regardless of whether such instruction reaches the children's individual needs." 

The median scores given above, together with the averages from the Mary- 
land and New York measurements, are a start toward standards in composition 
for the respective grades. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



325 



40 



RESULTS OF COMPOSITION TESTS 

PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS ATTAINING GIVEN SCORES 





M 4.11 



3.40 



Butte, Montana 



8TH GRADE 



7TH GRADE 



6TH GRADE 



5TH GRADE 



4TH GRADE 



Scores 1 2 3 4 5 



7 8 9 



Fig. XVII 



326 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

that the available objective tests and scales do not measure 
all the results of teaching. Why should this fact hinder 
their use ? There can be but one valid answer, viz. : that the 
use of such tests will tend to obscure the more important 
duty of the teacher. The objection is variously stated, e. g. : 
' ' The giving of such tests will overemphasize that which is 
tested, and that which is tested is the more formal work of the 
school.'^ Another frequent form of the objection is: '^ The 
most important factor in teaching is the teacher^ s personality, 
and no test can measure the results of personality.^'' Again it is 
said: " The benefits of school work come much more largely from 
the methods of work than from the knowledge acquired ^ 

Each of these statements contains a certain amount of 
truth. It is true that the giving of tests calls attention to 
that which is tested, that the most important factor in the 
school is the personality of the teacher, and that the learning 
of methods of work is more important than the learning of 
facts. But it is also true that no tests need to overempha- 
size that which is tested, that no products of school work 
can be measured without measuring the influence of the per- 
sonaHty of the teacher, and that no methods of work can be 
learned without work. It therefore follows that with proper 
safeguards the results of any teaching may be properly 
measured. The danger of overemphasizing the formal is 
further discussed under noteworthy dangers, below. It 
ought also to be kept in mind that the use of standardized 
tests enables the teacher to know just what is expected of 
her and just how well she is fulfilling these expectations; 
hence, the competent teacher will be relieved of the anxiety 
of uncertainty, and her personaUty will be much more avail- 
able to work the more subtle changes of character develop- 
ment. 

It is also true that just to the degree that superintendents 
and other supervisory officers are furnished with authentic 
evidence of the results of the more objective phases of a 
given teacher's work, just to that degree will these officers 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 327 

be more free to study and evaluate the more subtle results 
of that teacher's influence. The use of objective tests will 
help to secure an adequate evaluation of the results of per- 
SonaHty in another way, viz. : that of directing the attention 
of the supervisors to the changes actually made in the pupils. 
Too often at present supervisors base their judgment of 
teachers on their opinion of what teachers can do rather than 
on what they have done. It is often said: ''Miss A. has a 
good personality; she must have a desirable influence on her 
pupils." The influence of objective tests will tend to have 
such observations take the form: ''Miss A. has changed her 
pupils in desirable directions; she must have a good person- 
aUty." 

Three Noteworthy Dangers. — Just as there are dangers in 
the use of every keen-cutting instrument or highly organized 
mechanism, so there are dangers in the use of standards of 
achievement. These dangers will vary with the varying con- 
ditions and situations, and every teacher should be on the 
alert to guard against them. Three noteworthy dangers are: 
(i) That of overemphasizing the formal phases of education, 
(2) that of relying on the average, (3) that of relying on a 
single measurement of an individual. These are imminent 
in all situations and are therefore worthy of specific consid- 
eration. 

I. The Danger of Overemphasis. — As noted on page 538, 
this danger is sometimes urged as an objection to measuring 
results, and it is a very real danger against which adequate 
precaution should be taken. As thus far constructed, tests 
and scales are largely limited to the formal as contrasted 
with the vital; to the tools of learning rather than the think- 
ing of learning; to the abstract rather than the concrete. 
And for teaching to become dominated by the content of 
these tests and scales would be a grave mistake. It would 
be to take many steps backward toward the days of the bare 
three R's. 

The chief way to guard against the dangers of measure- 



328 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

ments, then, is to realize their limitations. For the present, 
they deal only with the formal or so-called fundamental ele- 
ments, and while proper control over these elements is essen- 
tial, school work on them could easily degenerate into mere 
cramming of facts if the "passing of the tests" should come 
to be the main concern of teachers and pupils. The main 
concern in all school work should be the improvement of life 
situations, and the formal or tool side of learning should be 
conquered as a means by which this improvement can be 
brought about. Teachers and supervisors can effectually 
guard against this danger by having the subject matter so 
selected and arranged that pupils come to the study of the 
formal phases of education in their concrete, vital setting, 
and by having the teaching so conducted that pupils conquer 
these formal phases as a means of solving vital problems. 
So approached and so conquered the formal phases come to 
be looked upon as essential tools of learning, and there is lit- 
tle, if any, danger of overemphasizing them by measuring 
the progress pupils make in conquering them. 

A rigid limitation of the time to be devoted to specific 
drill on work to be tested is an effective practical means of 
avoiding this danger. 

2. The Danger of Relying on the Average. — As a general 
indication of how one's pupils as a group stand with other 
similar groups, the average standing is worth while; but there 
is grave danger in relying on the average as a guide in judg- 
ing of the excellence of teaching. As was shown on page 531, 
one of the values of using tests is that they show so conclu- 
sively the wide variability among pupils of presumably equal 
or nearly equal ability. In spite of the convincing evidence 
of the facts of individual differences, some superintendents 
and some teachers continue to treat classes of children as if 
they all needed the same teaching, with the inevitable result 
that all the pupils are hindered because the work has to be 
made ''average," which means that it is too easy for the 
strong pupils, that it is too hard for the weak pupils, and 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 



329 



that the medium pupils are held back by the presence of 
both the strong and the weak. 

But a greater danger is found in the possible fallacy of 
the average as a measure of progress. It is a fact that a 
teacher can get her class up to the standard as shown by the 
average, and still not give the pupils good teaching. Figures 
XVIII and XIX show this graphically. 

















A WASTEFUL WAY 










































































































































































































n 






































































1 
1 






5" 


ndar 


d 




























1 
1 
1 






































1 

1 
1 




























1 










1 
1 






ft 






















1 

1 










t 




























' 






1 
















































A 






































2 












































































p 






































Q 






































^ 






































2 













































































Fig. XVIII 



330 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

AN ECONOMICAL WAY 











































































































































































































30 
28 
26 
24 

41 














































































St 


anda 


•d 














































1 1 


















































i 












20 














































































16 

14 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 


























1 

• 































































































































































































































































































































Fig. XIX 



Figs. XVIII, XIX 

The solid lines in these figures represent the abilities of a Grade 4 class at 
midyear in division combinations. By the end of the year they should have 
reached the standard as indicated by the horizontal line. If the teacher were 
willing to rely solely on the average as showing that her class had come up to 
standard she could have taught them as a single group and secured approxi- 
mately the gains as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. XVIII, and the aver- 
age would have indicated "up to standard," but if the teacher desired to help 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 331 

each individual pupil according to his needs, she would teach them in three or 
more groups and secure approximately the gains as indicated by the dotted 
lines in Fig. XIX, and the average would also have indicated "up to 
standard." 

The harm in following the wasteful way is that it wastes the time of all 
the pupils. The naturally competent respond readily and go beyond the 
standard, which means that they are using their time to learn something that 
they do not need and which the majority will therefore straightway forget. 
These quick pupils would much better be freed from most of the work in divi- 
sion and thus economize their time, and give the slower ones an opportunity 
to get the kind of teaching that would bring them up to standard. 

As is indicated in both these figures, it is probable that most classes will 
contain one or more pupils so weak in at least some abilities that they ought 
not to be brought up to standard. 



3. The Danger of Single Measurements. — As is shown in 
some detail above, it is of prime importance that teachers 
deal with the results of measurements in terms of individual 
standings rather than in terms of the average. The impor- 
tant fact is not the standing of the mythical average pupils, 
but that of the flesh- and-blood, deviating pupils. But there 
is need of caution in this, also, for there is danger of mis- 
judging some pupils if unguarded reHance is placed on single 
"measurements; for a moment's thought will convince one 
that any pupil is liable to have an *'off day," e. g., perhaps 
the test comes the day after a party, or the hour before a 
circus. In either event it is safe to say that few pupils will 
do themselves justice in the test. Of course, the teacher 
should guard against such distracting influences as the circus 
by her choice of time for giving the test; but do the best she 
can as to time, some pupils are liable not to be up to their 
ordinary capabiHty. Hence the teacher must be careful and 
not misjudge a pupil by placing too much store by the results 
of a single measurement. If a pupil has been doing good 
work and falls low in a test it is always essential that he be 
given at least a second trial before passing judgment as to 
with what group he ought to have his further teaching. An 
illustration of the need for this precaution is shown in Figure 
XX. 



332 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

RECORD OF AN "OFF DAY" 

PUPIL IN I.S.T.C. 

TRAINING SCHOOL 

11 II 11 




1st 2d 3d 

Fig. XX 

This pupil did very poorly in this test in division on the first day and seemed 
to be a candidate for the lowest group, in that she tried only two out of ten 
examples and got only one right; but on the second trial she came up markedly, 
doing eight out of ten, getting all correct; and on the third trial she did all ten 
and got all correct. 

The arrangement and general plan of the Courtis Practice Tests make them 
a noteworthy help in avoiding this danger. 

How to Begin Measuring. — The way to begin is to begin. 
Doubtless the best way is to see some one give a test or use 
a scale. But if this is not practicable, do not procrastinate; 
get a set of the more simple tests, read the directions and 
give them. Then read the directions for scoring and score 
the results. Do not be in a hurry to understand how to do 
all at once but take the work step by step. The Courtis 
tests are well adapted to making a beginning, both because 
they are comparatively well standardized and because of the 
clear, full directions which accompany them [2, 3]. Of the 
available scales, those on handwriting are probably best for 
beginners. Their use is very simple, and a little practice 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 333 

according to directions will enable any earnest, intelligent 
teacher to increase manyfold her ability to evaluate her 
work. This is a pioneer field for teachers, and it is therefore 
a rough, unbroken field, but it is a fruitful field, and it is a 
satisfactory field. It yields the joy of known achievement. 

SUMMARY 

1. The introduction of standardized tests and scales into the work of 

teaching is similar to the introduction of such scientific instru- 
ments into other vocations. 

2. These scales are of the greatest value, even in their tentative stage, 

and teachers can learn to use them without special statistical 
or psychological training. 

3. At present, standardized tests are largely confined to the more 

formal phases of school work, "the three R's," although notable 
beginnings have been made in other phases, such as drawing, 
composition, and health and physical development. 

4. Developments and improvements in this line are very rapid, and 

progressive teachers and supervisors are alert to learn the latest 
improvements as they appear in the educational journals and 
elsewhere. 

5. In making use of the standard tests, directions must be carefully 

followed if results are to be compared with standardized scores. 

6. Certain dangers in wrong uses of the available tests are real, but 

with proper precautions most of the evils may be avoided. 

7. There is no real conflict between measuring the results of teaching 

and the development of the subtler phases of social efficiency. 
In fact, the tests help to liberate teachers and pupils from much 
unnecessary drill. 

8. Initiative is necessary in making a beginning in the use of such 

tests, as in every other progressive movement, but, once in, the 
teacher has allied herself with a movement that promises more 
than any other for making teaching a profession. 

PROJECTS IN APPLICATION 

1. In the Elementary School Journal for September, 1916, Doctor W. 

S. Gray has made a list of standard tests and scales for the 
various subjects. Find this article and add to it any new stand- 
ard tests pubHshed since that time. 

2. Get a set of the best tests of the speed and comprehension of read- 

ing, and test either yourself and your class or some other group 
with it. 



334 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

3. How fast is the typical (median) eighth-grade pupil able to read 

standard reading material for his grade, and with what degree 
of comprehension? What is a fair rate for adults? 

4. How early in a term do, say, ten per cent of the pupils of the sixth 

grade attain a reasonably desirable proficiency in certain stand- 
ard tests, such as those of arithmetic by S. H. Courtis, making 
it possible to excuse them from further drill and do other work? 

5. If possible, test two different methods of drill in certain fundamental 

operations in arithmetic, and determine by the standard test 
which gives better results. 

6. What additions to your knowledge of educational measurement 

do you get from a reading of the chapter on this subject in Strayer 
and Norsworthy's "How to Teach"? (Macmillan.) 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Note. — This list is numbered to correspond to the citations made 
in the body of the chapter. The references under each heading are 
arranged in the order of publication. Development is so rapid in this 
field that, other considerations being equivalent, the most recent dis- 
cussions are of most value. No attempt has been made to secure a 
complete list. Articles, books, and chapters in books are appearing 
very rapidly. The journals which are most active in publishing 
studies in measuring results are: The Journal of Educational Psychol- 
ogy (Warwick & York, Baltimore), Teachers College Record (Teachers 
College, New York City), and The Elementary School Journal (Uni- 
versity of Chicago). 

A selected list recommended for beginners will be found at the end. 

GENERAL 

1. "Minimum Essentials in Elementary School Subjects.'* The 

Fourteenth Year Book, 191 5, National Society for the Study of 
Education. (Also Sixteenth Year Book.) Public School Pub. Co. 
10. Kelly, F. J.— ''Teachers' Marks— Their Variability and Stand- 
ardization," Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Colum- 
bia University, 1914. A critical study of grading, the exam- 
ination system, and the use of standardized tests and measur- 
ing scales. 

2. Courtis, S. A. — "Manual of Instructions for Giving Courtis 

Standard Tests." Educational Bureau of Research, Detroit, 
Mich., 1 9 14. A very comprehensive and lucid set of explana- 
tions and directions. 
2a. Brinton, W. C— "Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts." En- 
gineering Magazine Co., New York City. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 335 

3. Courtis, S. A. — ''Teacher's Manual to Accompany Courtis Stand- 

ard Practice Tests." World Book Company, New York, 1914. 

4. Thorndike, E. L. — ''An Introduction to the Theory of Mental 

and Social Measurements," Teachers College, 1913. A book 
for advanced students. 

5. "Educational Diagnosis," Science, 37 : 133-143, 258-259; 

January, February, 19 13. 

6. Strayer, G. D., and Thorndike, E. L. — "Educational Adminis- 

tration." Macmillan, 1913. Largely made up of extracts 
from Columbia University research studies in education. 

7. Whipple, G. M. — "Manual of Mental and Physical Tests." Re- 

vised edition. Warwick & York, Baltimore, Md., 1913. An 
extended treatment of the available means of making psycho- 
logical and educational tests. Technical. 

8. Strayer, G. D. — "Is Scientific Accuracy Possible in the Measure- 

ment of the Efficiency of Instruction ? " Education, December, 
1913. 

9. "Standards for Measuring Efficiency of Schools," U. S. 

Bureau of Education, 1913. No. 13. 

ga. Thompson, T. E. — "Minimum Essentials." Ginn, 1913. 

10. Ayres, L. P. — "Measuring Educational Processes Through Edu- 

cational Results." School Review, 20: 300-309, 310-319, 1912. 

11. "Measuring Educational Processes and Products." Rus- 
sell Sage Foundation, 400 Metropolitan Tower, New York 
City, Bulletin No. 116, 191 2. 

12. Bobbitt, J. F. — "Administration of City Schools, Part i, 12th 

Year Book, National Society for the Study of Education." 
University of Chicago Press, 191 2. Shows the need of the 
use of standardized tests. 

13. Bagley, W. C. — -"The Need of Standards for Measuring Prog- 

ress and Results." N. E. A. Proc, 191 2. 

14. Strayer, G. D. — "Measuring Results 'n Education." Journal of 

Educational Psychology, 2: 3-10, 191 1. 

15. Courtis, S. A. — "The Comparative Test as an Educational 

Ruler," American Education, September, 1911. Also Bulle- 
tin No. I, Courtis Standard Tests, Detroit, Mich. Public 
School Pub. Co. 

15^. Rice, J. M. — "Scientific Management in Education." Hinds, 
Noble & Eldridge, 1913. A collection of the Rice articles 
that appeared in The Forum. 

iSb. Riley— " Springfield Tests." Holden Patent Book Cover Co., 
Springfield, Mass. 

15c. "Cyclopedia of Education," Springfield Tests. 



T,^6 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

i$d. Starch, Daniel. — "Educational Measurements." Macmillan Co. 
i$e. Chapman and Rush. — *'The Scientific Measurement of Class- 
room Products." Silver, Burdett & Co. 

READING 

i6. Thorndike, E. L. — "The Measurement of Ability in Reading." 
Preliminary Scales and Tests. Teachers College Record, Sep- 
tember, 1914. 

i6e. Brown, H. A. — "The Measurement of the Efficiency of Instruc- 
tion in Reading," Elementary School Teacher, 14 : 477-490, 
1914. 

i6b. Judd — "Measurement in Reading," Elementary School Teacher j 
14 : 365, 1914. 

16c. Starch, Daniel — "Measurement of Efficiency in Reading," Jour- 
nal of Education, 6, January, 1915. 

i6d. "Tests in Reading." College Book Store, Madison, Wis. 

i6e. Kelly, F. J. — "The Kansas Reading Scale," University of Kansas, 
Lawrence, Kan. 

16/. Fordyce, C. — "Reading Scales." University Pub. Co., Lincoln, 
Neb. 

i6g. Gray, W. S. — " Studies of Elementary School Reading Through 
Standardized Tests." University of Chicago Press. 

HANDWRITING 

17. Thorndike, E. L. — "A Scale for Measuring Hand Writing." 

Teachers College Record, November, 1914. This is an exten- 
sion and improvement of the study reported in the Teachers 
College Record, March, 1910. 

18. Starch, D. — "The Measurement of Hand Writing." Journal of 

Educational Psychology, October, 1913. 

19. King, I., and Johnson, H. — "The Writing Abilities of the Ele- 

mentary and Grammar School Pupils of a City School System, 
Measured by the Ayres Scale." Journal of Educational Psy- 
chology, 3 : 514-520, 191 2. 

20. Ayres, L. P. — "A Scale for Measuring the Quality of Hand 

Writing of School Children." Russell Sage Foundation, 191 2. 

21. Freeman, F. N. — "Some Issues in the Teaching of Hand Writ- 

ing." Elementary School Teacher, 12: 1-7, 53-59, 1911. 

22. Thorndike, E. L. — "Hand Writing." Teachers College Record, 

March, 1910. Contains the first available scale for measuring 
excellence in handwriting, with a discussion of the means of 
its derivation. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 2>?>7 

ARITHMETIC 

23. Hahn, H. H., and Thorndike, E. L.— "Some Results of Practice 

in Addition Under School Conditions." Journal of Educa- 
tional Psychology, March, 19 14. 

24. Smith, H. P.—" Use of the Standard Test in Public School Super- 

vision." Midland SchoolSyYol. 28: 173-177, February, 1914. 

25. Courtis, S. A.— Bulletin No. i, 191 2. Bulletin No. 2, 1913. 

Bulletin No. 3, 1914. Standard Scores and other data from 
co-operative investigations. 
27- ''Better Teaching in Arithmetic." Reprint from Pro- 
ceedings of Harvard Teachers' Association, 19 13. 

28. Starch, D. — "Transfer of Training in Arithmetical Operations." 

Journal of Educational Psychology, 2: 306-310, 191 1. 

29. Brown, J. C— "An Investigation of the Value of Drill Work in 

the Fundamental Operations of Arithmetic." Journal of Edu- 
cational Psychology, 2 : 81-88; 3 : 485-491, 191 1. 

30. Courtis, S. A. — "Measurement of Growth and Efl&ciency in 

Arithmetic." Elementary School Teacher, 10: 58-74, 177-199, 
1909; II : 171-185,360-370, 528-539, 1910; 12 : 127-137, 1911. 
These articles recount the development of Series "A" of the 
Courtis Tests. 

31. Bonser, F. G.— "The Reasoning Ability of Children of the 

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth School Grades." Bureau of Publica- 
tions, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1910. 

32. Rice, J. M.— "Educational Research." A Test in Arithmetic, 

etc. Forum, 34 : 281-297, 437-452, 588-607, 1902. These are 
pioneer studies in testing. 

33. Stone, C. W. — "Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic." Bureau of 

Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1916. 
33a. Studebaker, J. W.— "Standard Economy Practice Exercises." 
Scott, Foresman Co. 

ENGLISH 

34. Jenkins, Frances— " Tests in Language." Journal of Educational 

Psychology, early in 191 5. 

35. Courtis, S. A.— "Standard Tests in English." Elementary School 

Teacher, April, 19 14. 

36. Ballou, Frank W.— "The Harvard-Newton Composition Scales." 

Harvard University Press, 19 14. A scale devised especially 
for measuring eighth-grade composition work. It is valuable 
for all grammar and high school composition work. 

37. Johnson, F. W.— "The Hillegas-Thorndike Scales of Quality in 

English Composition." School Review, January, 191 3. 



338 TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUBJECTS 

38 Hillegas, M. B.— ''A Scale for the Measurement of Quality in 
English Composition by Young People." Teachers College 
Record, 13; No. 4, 191 2. 

39. Starch, D.— ''The Reliability of Grading of High School Work 

in English." School Review, 20: 442-457, September, 1912. 

40. Bliss, D. C— ''Some Results of Standard Tests." Psychological 

Clinic, March, 191 2. 

41. Rice, J. M.— "English, the Need of a New Basis in Education," 

Forum, 35 : 440-457. 

42. "Education Research: The Results of a Test in Lan- 
guage." Forum, 35 : 269-293, i903.' 

SPELLING 

43. Ayres, L. P. — "Spelling Vocabularies of Personal and Business 

Letters." Russell Sage Foundation, Bulletin No. Ei 26, 1913. 

44. Buckingham, B. R.— "Spelling Ability." Columbia University, 

1913. A research study of marked value. Contains a scale 
which has been greatly extended by the author. 

45. Jones, W. F.— "Concrete Investigation of Material of English 

Spelling." University of South Dakota, November, 1913. 

46. Cook, W. A.—" Shall We Teach Spelling by Rule ? " Journal of 

Educational Psychology, 3 : 316-325, 191 2. 

47. Pearson, H. C— "Experimental Studies in the Teaching of 

Spelling." Teachers College Record, January, 191 2. 

48. Suzzallo, H., and Pearson, H. C. — "Comparative Experimental 

Teaching of Spelling." Teachers College Record, 13 : i, 191 2. 

49. Wallin, J. E. W.— "Spelling Efficiency in Relation to Grade, 

Age, and Sex." Warwick & York, 191 1. 

50. Pearson, H. C— "The Scientific Study of the Teaching of Spell- 

ing." Journal of Educational Psychology, 2: 241-252, 1911. 

51. Suzzallo, H.— "The Teaching of Spelling." Teachers College 

Record, 12; No. 5, 191 1. 

52. Cornman, 0. P. — "Spelling in the Elementary School." An Ex- 

perimental and Statistical Investigation, 1902. 

53. Rice, J. M.— "The Futility of the Spelling Grind." Forum 32, 

163-172, and 409-419, 1897. 

DRAWING 

54. Thorndike, E. L. — "The Measurement of Achievement in Draw- 

ing." Teachers College Record, November, 1913. 
S4a. Rugg, Harold O. — "A Scale for Measuring Free-Hand Lettering." 
Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 191 5. 



MEASURING RESULTS OF TEACHING 339 

KINDERGARTEN 

54b. Pepper, Julia — ''Form Board Tests." Kindergarten Review, Jan- 
uary, 191 5. 

HEALTH 

54c. Rapeer, L. W. — ''A Tentative Scale for Scoring Health," i6th 
Year Book, National Society for Study of Education. Public 
School Pub. Co. 

SURVEYS 

Note. — In each of the school surveys noted below considerable use 
was made of scales and tests as means of measuring the results of 
teaching. 

55. Springfield, Illinois, 1914. 

56. Ohio, State, 1914. 

57. Butte, Montana, 1914. 

58. Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1913. 

59. New York City (School Efficiency Series), 191 2. 

60. Cleveland, Ohio, 1916. 

SELECTED LIST RECOMMENDED FOR BEGINNERS 

Bagley, W. C. — "The Need of Standards for Measuring Progress and 
Results." N. E. A. Proc, 191 2. 

Courtis, S. A. — "The Comparative Test as an Educational Ruler." 
American Education, September, 191 1. Also Bulletin No. i, 
Courtis Standard Tests, Detroit, Mich. 

Ayres, L. P. — "Measuring Educational Processes Through Educa- 
tional Results." School Review, 20: 300-309, 310-319, 1912. 

Courtis, S. A. — Bulletin No. i, 1912; Bulletin No. 2, 1913; Bulletin 
No. 3, 1 9 14. Standard Scores and other data from co-opera- 
tive investigations. 

"Manual of Instructions for Giving Courtis Standard Tests." 

Educational Bureau of Research, Detroit, Michigan, 1914. A 
very comprehensive and lucid set of explanations and direc- 
tions. 

• "Teachers' Manual to Accompany Courtis Standard Practice 

Tests," World Book Company, New York, 1914. 

Thorndike, E. L. — "A Scale for Measuring Hand Writing." Teachers 
College Record, November, 19 14. This is an extension of the 
study reported in the Teachers College Record, March, 1910. 

"The Measurement of Achievements in Drawing." Teachers 

College Record, November, 1913. 

Survey of School System, Butte, Montana, 1914. 



Efficiency Record 



Te&Shex^ 



Miss E. 



City_. 



.'i^y Urade taTigkt. _ JOOT ^ 

(ot building) (fcc;? Sn (OBBubjeoT) 

Salary iP:^_'Ji'JK. per manth 



( Indicate sex) 

Exptuience ^ yeacs 

Highest academic training _ _ -QpJ [eg© gr§d Uat_e_ 

Extent of professional traiiiing_PedagogicaJ courses in college:_f^qr KS^^^^^^ 



DETAILED RATING 


]y!p 


Poor 


Medium 


Good 


F,i 










~ 










X 


— 






/ 2. Health 








X 
















1 3. Voice _ 












X 




























X 














X 
























X 


















1, I'ersonal J 7. Accuracy 




















X 




Equipment^ 8, Industry 


















X 






1 9. Enthusiasm and optimism 










X 
































X 






f 11. Self-control . . 










X 






























X 








1 13. Tact-.- - . 










X 






























X 








/15. Academic preparation _ 
















X 
















X 
















1 17. Grasp of subject-matter 










X 














1 18. Unstanding of children _.. 






X 


















1 19. Interest in the life of the school 












X 












IT. Social and I „„ „ „ „ „ „ „ 










X 














Professional < ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ interest patrons 








X 




























X 












23. Co-operation and loyalty 
















X 






















X 
























X 










26. Use of English 


















X 






/ 27. Care of light, heat, and ventilation 












X 




























X 








^g/Udgf.mP.nt. 29, Ca.rp nf rrmtinf 


X 
























X 






















y 31. Definiteness and clearness of aim 






X 


















/ 32. Skill in habit formation . 




X 




















1 33. Skill in stimulating thought- 










X 














\ 34. Skill in teaching how to study 






X 


















JV. Technique ) 35. Skill in questioning ... 








X 




















X 




















J 37. Organization of subject-matter 




X 
























X 


























X 


















\ 40. Attention to individual needs 












X 














X 






















1 42. Growth of pupils in subject-matter 




X 




















V- BeaultS^— J 43. General development of pupils 










X 














1 44. Stimulation of community 






X 


















\ 45. Moral Influence 








X 


















. 






























GENERAL RATING 




r>r 




r~ 








r 













Secorded by Position. 



Jl^. 



//JS/JS. 



* This scale is taken from the Fourteenth Yearbook of the National Society for the 
Study of Education, Part II, published by the University of Chicago Press. 



34 o 



EXPLANATION OF TERMS USED IN SCORE CARD FOR MEASURING 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 

I. Personal Equipment includes physical, mental, and moral qualities. 

I, General appearance — physique, carriage, dress, and personal neatness. 
3! Voice — pitch, quality, clearness of schoolroom voice. 

4. Intellectual capacity — native mental ability. 

5. Initiative and self-reliance — independence in originating and carrying out ideas. 
7. Accuracy — in statements, records, reports, and school work. 

10. Integrity and sincerity — soundness of moral principles and genuineness of char- 
acter. 

13. Tact — adroitness, address, quick appreciation of the proper thmg to do or say. 

14. Sense of justice — fairmindedness, ability to give all a "square deal." 

II. Social and Professional Equipment includes qualities making the teacher better 

able to deal with social situations and particularly the school situation. 

15. Academic preparation — school work other than professional. Adequacy for 

present work. 

16. Professional preparation — specific training for teachmg. Adequacy for pres- 

ent work. V , -ii 

17. Grasp of subject matter — command of the information to be taught or the skill 

to be developed. 

18. Understanding of children — insight into child nature; sympathetic, scientific, 

and practical. 

22. Interest in lives of pupils — desire to know and help pupils personally, outside 

of school subjects. 

23. Co-operation and loyalty — attitude toward colleagues and superior ofl&cers. 

24. Professional interest and growth — effort to keep up to date and improve. 
26. Use of English — vocabulary, grammar, ease of expression. 

III. School Management includes mechanical and routine factors. 

29. Care of routine — saving time and energy by reducing frequently recurring 

details to mechanical organization. , , .„ v 

30. Discipline {governing skill) — character of order maintained and skill shown m 

maintaining it. 

IV. Technique of Teaching includes skill in actual teaching and in the conduct of the 

recitation. , , , , ,1 

31. Definiteness and clearness of aim — of each lesson and of the work as a whole. 

32. Skill in habit formation— skill in estabUshing specific, automatic responses 

quickly and permanently; drill. 
SS. Skill in stimulating thought— giving opportunity for and direction in reflective 

thinking. ■, a- • i u« e 

34. Skill in teaching how to study — establishing economical and eflacient habits of 

study. T • J 

35. Skill in questioning — character and distribution of questions; repUes ehcited. 

36. Choice of subject matter — skill with which the teacher selects the material of 

instruction to suit the interests, abilities, and needs of the claps. 

37. Organization of subject matter — the lesson plan and the system in which the 

subject matter is presented. 

39. Skill in motivating wor/fe— arousing interest and giving pupils proper incentives 

for work. . ,. . , , j-^r 

40. Attention to individual needs — teacher's care for individual differences, pecu- 

liarities, and difficulties. 
V. Results include evidence of the success of the above conditions and skill. 

41. Attention and response of the class — extent to which all of the class are interested 

in the essential part of the lesson and respond to the demands made on them. 

42. Growth of pupils in subject matter-shown by pupil's ability to do work of ad- 

vanced class and to meet more successfully whatever tests are made of their 
school work. 

43. General development of pupils— incresise in pupils' ability and power along hnes 

other than those of subject matter. 

44. Stimulation of community— efiect on life of the community tending to improve 

or stimulate its various activities. 

45. Moral influence— extent to which the teacher raises the moral tone of the pupils 

or of the school. 

341 



INDEX 



Aims of education, 5 
Analysis of social efficiency, 12 
Arithmetic troubles, 188 
Assignment in reading, 170 

Books to read, 176 

Capitalization, 139 

Charters, Prof. W. W., grammatical 

errors, 136 
Charts of social aims, 14 and 15 
Composition vs. language, 91 
Course in arithmetic, 204 
Course in composition, 100 
Course of study, 18 

Dewey, John, 5, 35 
Difficulty of spelling words, 46 
Dramatics, 172 

Formal discipline, 26 

Gary system, 3 
Giddings, Prof, Franklin, 10 
Grammar eliminations, 30 
Grammar, place of, 103 and 112 
Gray's scale for scoring handwriting, 
75 

Happiness and democratic self-activ- 
ity, 17 
History dates, 32 
Home geography, 236 

Indianapolis plan of civics instruc- 
tion, 278 

Jones's study of spelling, 39 

Lessons, types of, in grammar, 125 

Maps in history, 267 
McMurry, Prof. Frank, 20 

Note. — The brevity of this index is due to the fact that almost any topic desired 
will fall readily under one of the chapter headings and can thus be easily and quickly 
found. 



Measuring reading ability, 177 and 

chapter XIH 
Methods of teaching spelling, 48 
Minimal essentials of the course of 

study, 19 
Motive in reading, 147 

Organizing ideas, 147 

Philadelphia plan of civics instruc- 
tion, 281 
Phonic work, 152 
Problems in arithmetic, 213-214 
Proximate ends of education, 9 

Reading ability measurements, 177 
Reading aids, 165 
Relearning in spelling, 53 
Retardation, 164 

Scales, 295 

School population, 4 

Spelling tests, 28 

Spencer, Herbert, 5 

Six-six plan, 4 

Social insight by teachers, 8 

Standards, elementary school, 21 and 

24 
Standards in writing, 79 
Standards in other subjects, chapter 

XHI 
Study period in arithmetic, 203 
Supplementary readers, 239 

Teaching spelling, 48 
Thorndike handwriting scale, 84 

Vocabulary studies, 40 

Wilson, Prof. G. M., 11 

Words used in correspondence, 43 

Writing, outline by grades, 67 

Yocum, Prof. A. D., 12 



343 



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